1  095 


Chancellor- 


Southern  Branch 
of  the 

University  of  California 

Los  Angeles 


Form  L  I 


1025 
036 


CLASS    TEACHING 

AND 

MANAGEMENT 

BY 

WILLIAM   ESTABROOK  ( 

::hancellor 

AUTHOR    OF 

"our  schools:  theik  administration  and  supervision" 

/SS4'0 

ILLUSTRATED 

//       ^1 

HARPER  &   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

M  C  MX 

YOUR    EYES 


Your  eyes  are  worth  more  to  you  than 
any  book. 

Your  safety  and  your  success  in  life  depend 
on  your  eyes;   therefore  take  care  of  them. 

Always  hold  your  head  up  when  you  read. 

Hold  your  book  fourteen  inches  from  your 
face. 

Be  sure  that  the  light  is  clear  and  good. 
Never  read  in  a  bad  light. 

Never  read  with  the  sun  shining  directly 
on  the  book. 

Never  face  the  light  in  reading. 

Let  the  light  come  from  behind  or  over 
your  left  shoulder. 

Avoid  books  or  papers  printed  indistinctly 
or  in  small  type. 

Rest  your  eyes  by  looking  away  from  the 
book  every  few  moments. 

Cleanse  your  eyes  night  and  morning  with 
pure  water. 

These  are  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee  on 
Children's  M' elf  are  Association  of  Women  Principals, 
Mew    York,  and    the   Advisory   Board  of  Oculists. 


Copyright,  1910,  by 

WiLLLAM    ESTABKOOK    ChANCBLLOK 


Published  October,  1910. 
Prinltd  in  the  United  States  o/  America 


^_...-  -;.3, 

uB 

:  2  -^ 

d-ZL. 

TO    MY   FRIEND 

JOHN    HOWARD  DICKASON 

OF  THE   UNIVERSITY   OF  WOOSTER 

EDUCATOR 

"  Come  ye  after  me,  and  I  will  make  you  to  become 
fishers  of  men." — Jesi;s,  Gospel  of  Mark,  i,  17. 


"  In  all  things  lives  and  reigns  an  eternal  law.  Education 
consists  in  leading  man,  as  he  grows  into  self-consciousness, 
to  the  free  representation  of  the  inner  law  of  the  unity  of 
God,  man,  and  Nature.  The  representation  of  the  in- 
finite in  the  finite,  of  the  eternal  in  the  temporal,  of  unity 
in  diversity  confronts  us  as  the  one  aim  of  education. 
School  means  the  thoughtful  communication  of  knowledge, 
for  definite  purposes  and  in  definite  inner  connection.  It 
is  the  destiny  of  man  to  become,  through  instruction  and 
training,  a  conscious,  reasonable,  self-active,  and  free  being 
in  whom  necessity  calls  forth  freedom,  law,  self-deter- 
mination, external  compulsion,  inner  free-will,  and  exter- 
nal hate,  inner  love." — Froebel,  The  Education  of  Man. 
(Abridged.)     1825. 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  present  the  principles 
of  class  teaching  in  respect  both  to  instruction  and 
to  discipline.  This  treatment  of  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  class  instruction  is  intended  for  use  in  teachers' 
reading  circles  and  as  a  text-book  in  professional  schools 
of  education.  It  is  a  development  of  systematic  courses 
of  lectures  summer  and  winter  in  the  Universities  of 
Chicago  and  of  Wooster,  and  in  George  Washington 
University,  and  of  occasional  lectures  at  various  other 
universities,  at  several  normal  schools,  and  at  many 
teachers'  institutes. 

In  an  experience  as  superintendent  of  schools  in  four 
different  cities — Bloomfield  and  Paterson,  New  Jersey; 
the  District  of  Columbia,  both  white  and  colored  schools ; 
and  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  and  as  a  visitor  in  fifteen 
hundred  schools  in  more  than  half  the  States  of  the 
Union — I  have  learned  that  while  systems  of  organiza- 
tion and  of  administration  are  many  and  various,  pre- 
senting opposite  extremes  and  apparently  every  form 
of  compromise,  the  business  of  the  class  teacher  is 
standardized  in  but  three  forms  whether  for  East, 
West,  North  or  South. 

This  book  is  an  exposition  of  these  standard  forms 
of  class  teaching. 

W.  E.  C. 

Town  of  Norwalk,  Conn. 


CONTENTS 
AND    SYLLABUS    OF    CHAPTERS 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Learning  Processes  from  the  Point  op  View  op  Teaching 

Relations  of  learner  and  teacher. — Studies  and  exercises. — Progress 
of  different  kinds  of  pupils  in  different  kinds  of  subjects. — Idea, 
function,  habit,  character. — Motivation,  attention,  interest,  asso- 
ciation, judgment,  reasoning Page  3 

CHAPTER   II 

The  Teaching  Processes  prom  the  Point  of  View  of  Learning 

Helping  the  learner  and  transmitting  knowledge. — Limitations  con- 
stitute the  nature  of  art. — The  general  teaching  process. — Special 
teaching  processes;  inductive  recitations;  deductive  lessons; 
question-and-answer  re\'iews;  study-lessons;  drills;  laboratory 
experiments;  lectures;  seminars;  library  -  work ;  translation; 
tests  and  examinations Page  25 

CHAPTER   III 

Department  Teaching  —  Grade   Teaching  —  District   School 
Teaching 

Reasons  for  the  several  kinds  and  grades  of  schools. — The  lower 
limits  of  department  teaching  and  the  upper  limits  of  grade  teach- 
ing.— The  several  principles  of  department  teaching. — The  prin- 
ciples of  grade  teaching. — The  causes  of  the  rural  school  consoli- 
dation movement. — Grading  the  district  school  that  has  but  one 
teacher. — Advantages  of  such  a  school. — In  all  kinds  of  schools, 
written    work,    reviews,    examinations. — Change    and    progress. 

Page  67 


CONTENTS   AND   SYLLABUS   OF   CHAPTERS 

CHAPTER   IV 

The  Teacher  as  Interpreter  of  the  Course  op  Study 

The  child's  world. — Qualities  requisite  in  the  teacher. — A  philoso- 
phy of  life. — Prevalence  of  one  temperament  among  teachers. — 
The  dominant  importance  of  ideas. — A  philosophy  of  knowledge. 
— The  problem  of  the  adjustment  of  foreigners  to  Americanism. — 
The  unity  of  mind. — Scholarship  and  conduct. — Ethical  versus 
materialistic  \'iews  and  principles Page  93 

CHAPTER   V 

The  Day's  Work — Its  Plan  and  Record 

The  variety  of  duties. — Frictions. — Daily  preparation. — Daily  pro- 
grams in  a  graded  elementary  school. — High  school  programs. — 
Advance  plans  versus  records  of  accomplishment. — A  new  class. 

Page  119 

CHAPTER   VI 

Control  of  the  Class  and  of  the  Individual 

Re^^ew  of  terms  used  in  education. — The  force-theory. — The  skill- 
theory. — School-and-home  theory. — Pupil  self-government  theory. 
— Manual  work  in  relation  to  discipline. — Virtue  is  at  the  point  of 
strain. — Moral  aims  in  education. — Means  to  attain  them. — When 
is  corporal  punishment  necessary  ? — Seating  a  class  so  as  to  avoid 
unnecessary  conditions  leading  to  disorder. — Directing  the  move- 
ments of  the  class. — Fire-drills. — The  mechanics  of  class  control. 
— Learning  each  pupil. — Physical  defects. — Schools  and  classes 
for  the  incorrigible,  for  the  defective,  for  the  laggard,  for  the 
blind,  for  the  deaf,  for  the  crippled. — Tests  of  feeble-mindedness. 
— The  reasonable  standards  of  conduct  in  children  and  youth. — 
The  school  \irtues Page  145 

CHAPTER   VII 

Classifying,  Marking,  Grading  and  Promoting  Pupils 

\Vhat  numbers  properly  constitute  classes  in  the  various  schools 
and  grades? — The  count-system  in  marking. — Four  factors  in 
grading, — age,  home  opportunities,  native  powers,  actual  attain- 
ments.— Conspectus  of  elementary  course  of  study. — Frequency 


CONTENTS  AND    SYLLABUS   OF   CHAPTERS 

of  grading. — Retardation. — Machinery  versus  personality. — The 
"trick"  of  relative  standards  versus  the  justice  of  absolute  stand- 
ards so  far  as  these  are  humanly  possil)le. — Why  the  class  teachers 
generally  should  decide  promotions, — and  when  they  should  not 
do  so. — The  precocious,  the  normal,  the  altricious. — Psychical  ages 
versus  physical. — The  locus  of  a  study. — Overcrowded  curricu- 
lums. — Study-periods  at  school Page  199 


CHAPTER   VIII 

How  TO  Make  a  Good  School  and  a  Good  Class 

The  school  as  seen  by  a  visitor. — Active  attention,  absorbed  atten- 
tion, deliberative  attention. — Order  and  decorum  of  the  pupils. — 
The  use  of  the  English  language. — Voice. — Condition  of  the  room 
itself. — School  equipment. — Qualifications  as  seen  by  systematic 
observers. — Aims  of  the  good  class  teacher. — The  school  spirit. 
— Interest  of  each  pupil  in  his  own  welfare:  self  -  activity. — 
The  school  neighborhood.  —  The  financial  authorities.  —  Public 
opinion Page  235 

CHAPTER   IX 

The  Class  Teacher  and  the  Industrial  Arts 

The  investment  of  one's  own  life. — The  extension  of  education. — 
Its  expansion. — Teachers  of  the  familiar  subjects. — Preparation 
for  the  new  subjects. — Agriculture. — The  mechanic  arts. — The 
business  arts. — Domestic  science. — Domestic  arts. — Principles 
controlling  social  action  in  reference  to  educational  progress. — 
The  universal  school  and  expressive  activities     .     .     Page  259 

CHAPTER  X 

The  Teacher's  Own  Life  in  an  Age  of  Educational  Expansion 

Relations  with  superior  officers. — Questions  usually  asked  of  can- 
didates for  positions. — Progress  in  scholarship. — One's  library. — 
Health. — Recreation. — Vacations. — Public,  private,  endowed,  and 
ecclesiastical  school  positions. — Elementary,  secondary,  and  higher 
positions. — Learning  some  of  tlie  lessons  of  life    .     .     Page  285 

xi 


CONTENTS  AND    SYLLABUS    OF   CHAPTERS 
APPENDIX 

PACK 

I.  An  Open  Letter  to  One  Who  Is  Just  Beginning 

TO  Teach 299 

II.  An  Open  Letter  to  the  Experienced  Class  Teacher  301 

III.  The  Choice  of  Text-Books 303 

IV.  Outline  of  a  Standard  Minimum  Course  of  Study 

Based  upon  the  Course  in  the  Schools  of  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio 305 

V.  Illustrative  Lesson  Plans  and  Examination      .     .312 

VI.  Illustrative  Teachers'  Examinations 322 

VII.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  a  District  School     .     .  329 

VIII.  Suggested  English  Exercises  in  Correlation  with 

Other    Subjects    for    Both    Urban    and    Rural 

Schools 331 

Index 333 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

A    COOKING    CLASS.       WASHINGTON    IRVING    HIGH    SCHOOL, 

NEW    YORK     CITY Fmuiis/.itce 

AN     OUT-OF-DOOR     KINDERGARTEN.       STATE     NORMAL 

SCHOOL,    SAN    JOS^,    CALIFORNIA Fannj  ,k       18 

NATURE-STUDY   APPLIED    TO    ARITHMETIC "  108 

VACANT-LOT    GARDENING    BY    PUPILS    OF   THE    CLEVELAND 

SCHOOLS "         268 


"According  to  my  experience,  success  in  education  de- 
pends upon  whether  what  is  taught  to  children  commends 
itself  to  them  as  true,  through  being  closely  connected  with 
their  own  personal  observation  and  consideration.  With- 
out this  foundation,  truth  must  seem  to  them  little  better 
than  a  plaything  or  perhaps  a  burden.  Man  is  impelled  by 
the  nature  of  the  powers  that  he  possesses  to  use  and  to 
train  them,  and  thereby  to  develop  and  improve  them." 
— Pestalozzi,  On  his  Work  at  Stanz.     1799. 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND 

MANAGEMENT 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 
FROM   THE    POINT   OF    VIEW    OF    TEACHING 

Relations  of  learner  and  teacher. — Studies  and  exercises. — Progress 
of  different  kinds  of  pupils  in  different  kinds  of  subjects. — Idea,  func- 
tion, habit,  character. — Motivation,  attention,  interest,  association, 
judgment,  reasoning. 

THE  child  goes  to  school  to  learn.  Curiosity  impels 
him.  Or  the  child  is  sent  to  school  to  learn.  His 
parents  or  relatives  or  officers  of  the  law  compel  him  to 
go.  Teaching  the  child  who  goes  to  school  of  his  own 
desire  is  not  the  same  thing  as  teaching  one  who  must 
be  sent.  Nor  does  the  child  who  goes  voluntarily,  even 
eagerly,  learn  at  school  in  the  same  fashion  as  does  the 
child  who  goes  unwillingly. 

The  purpose  of  the  school-going  of  the  child  is  to 
learn  knowledge  and  habits.  What  and  how  much  he 
learns  depend  upon  many  things, — his  own  curiosity  and 
docility,  his  health  and  strength,  his  mental  powers; 
the  scholarship,  the  industry,  the  skill  and  the  char- 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 

acter  of  his  teacher;  the  opportunities  of  the  school, 
its  building,  equipment,  apparatus;  the  subjects  taught; 
the  books  and  supphes  used;  his  comrades. 

In  its  simple  and  original  sense,  to  "learn"  means  to 
"go  over,"  to  "travel  again."  In  its  simple  and  original 
sense,  to  "teach"  is  to  "show"  or  to  "tell."  The  teacher 
shows  the  learner  what  to  go  over  and  how  to  go  over, 
while  the  learner,  hearing  what  the  teacher  tells  or  see- 
ing what  the  teacher  shows,  travels  again  the  road  by 
which  the  teacher  has  come  to  knowledge. 

Learning  from  a  teacher  is  a  wonderful  economy,  for 
it  saves  learning  by  experiment  with  its  constant  errors 
and  many  failures  and  with  its  few  successes.  Teaching 
those  who  do  not  yet  know  has  been  an  essential  part 
of  the  transmission  of  the  arts  of  life  from  those  who 
know  to  the  ignorant,  in  every  period  of  culture  and 
civilization.  School-teaching  is  but  one  phase  of  the 
whole  matter,  though  in  the  modern  age  it  has  come  to 
transcend  all  other  phases  in  the  general  interest  of 
men.  And  schooling,  which  is  the  preparation  of  child- 
hood and  of  youth  in  economic  leisure  for  activities  and 
enterprises  of  life  that  are  not  open  to  the  unschooled, 
is  now  part  of  our  common  democratic  faith  and 
practice. 

Learning,  then,  is  going  over, — once,  twice,  perhaps 
many  times,  till  one  knows,  and  often  many,  many 
times  after  one  knows.  Going  over  again  and  again  tiU 
one  knows  is  one  kind  of  learning;  going  thereafter  is 
another  kind  of  learning,  so  different  that  we  no  longer 
use  this  term.  The  first  kind  of  learning  has  several 
stages  in  it, — seeing  or  hearing,  understanding,  remem- 
bering, trying,  succeeding,  doing,  repeating,  drilling. 
Suddenly,  there  comes  the  consciousness  that  one  really 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

has  learned  and  now  knows.  With  this  discovery,  the 
first  kind  of  learning  ends — unless  or  until  one  forgets. 
Seldom,  however,  does  one  really  forget  what  one  really 
has  learned.  This  "forgetting,"  as  it  is  called,  is  getting 
something  else  in  the  way,  as  in  the  confusion  due  to 
excitement;  or  it  is  faihng  to  get  anything  at  all,  as  in 
the  empty-minded  weakness  of  fatigue  or  ill-health. 
The  only  forgetting  that  is  serious  is  due  either  to  long 
lapse  of  years  or  to  great  changes  either  in  the  cell- 
structure  or  relations  of  the  brain,  as  in  childhood  or 
severe  illness  or  in  the  associations  of  one's  life,  as  re- 
moval to  distant  scenes.  Even  so,  often  one  remem- 
bers, years  and  years  later  or  thousands  of  miles  away, 
things  that  one  supposes  forgotten  absolutely. 

The  forgetting  of  the  child,  when  asked  regarding 
something  that  he  learned  or  knew  a  few  minutes  or  a 
few  days  before,  is  due  usually  to  his  inability  to  sum- 
mon remembrance  at  will  because  he  is  full  of  sensations 
and  motivations  and  is  not  yet  in  control  of  himself. 
Unless  due  to  this  condition  of  his  mental  hfe  because 
he  is  a  child,  his  forgetting  is  probably  competent  evi- 
dence that  in  fact  he  had  not  learned  and  did  not  pre- 
viously know  what  he  professed  to  know,  or  was  supposed 
to  know,  before. 

The  other  and  higher  kind  of  learning,  the  going  over 
of  what  one  really  does  know,  is  using  it,  or  functioning 
in  respect  to  its  subject  matter.  The  first  kind  leaves 
one  in  a  state  of  proficiency  or  skill;  the  second  kind 
leads  into  science  or  into  art  or  into  philosophy. 

Learning  at  school  has  the  various  stages  of  seeing 

or  otherwise  observing   by   the   senses,    perceiving   or 

understanding,  remembering,  trying  to  do,  succeeding 

therein,  doing  and  repeating,  and  last  drilling  until  one 

5 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

knows  or  has  learned.  It  is  a  process  through  which 
one  can  never  carry  another.  The  teacher  may  show; 
the  pupil  must  perform. 
1/  Here,  between  the  teacher  and  the  learner,  arises  a 
I  relation  of  importance.  The  greater  the  skill  of  the 
teacher,  the  larger  is  the  number  of  those  whom  he  or 
she  can  develop  by  teaching, — that  is,  helping  to  learn. 
A  teacher  of  genuine  skill  can  develop  the  mediocre,  even 
the  dull;  a  teacher  of  but  little  proficiency  scarcely 
educates  the  average  pupils;  a  teacher  of  no  qualifica- 
tions actually  discourages  even  the  pupils  of  talent. 
Good  teaching,  therefore,  means  the  success  of  a  rela- 
tively large  portion  of  the  learners  in  a  class.  And  good 
(or  true)  teaching  is  primarily  nothing  else  than  in- 
sight into  these  learning  processes  and  industry  in  follow- 
ing the  suggestions  of  insight,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
learners. 

When  it  is  said  that  "the  good  teacher  is  born,"  what 
is  meant  is  that  he  (or  she)  has  native  insight  into  and 
sympathy  with  the  mental  process  of  learning  and  a 
desire  lo  help  the  learner  forward.  Whether  a  good 
teacher  can  be  made  out  of  a  person  without  such  in- 
sight, sympathy  and  desire  is  simply  a  question  whether 
the  person  can  be  so  educated  as  to  develop  this  power 
of  insight  and  these  qualities  of  sympathy  and  desire. 

Work  at  school  is  commonly  classified  into  studies 
and  exercises.  Not  to  try  to  draw  distinctions  too  finely 
here,  one  may  say  that  studies  are  concerned  with  facts 
and  principles:  they  are  concerned  with  what  is  often 
called  "knowledge."  Exercises  are  concerned  with  ac- 
tivities, crafts,  arts.  The  difference  may  be  illustrated 
by  citing  history  as  a  study  and  drawing  as  an  exercise. 

The  distinction  is  not  to  be  pushed  too  far.    To  write  a 

6 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

composition  on  some  historical  topic  is  to  use  history  as 
an  exercise:  to  learn  the  theory  of  perspective  in  draw- 
ing is  to  pursue  drawing  as  a  study. 

In  actual  class-room  practice,  the  learning  process  as 
it  is  guided  by  the  teacher  in  respect  to  a  study  differs 
considerably  from  the  learning  process  involved  in  an 
exercise.  To  learn  a  history  lesson,  one  reads  the  pas- 
sage or  listens  to  a  recital  of  the  facts ;  then  one  thinks 
about  the  facts,  severally  and  collectively,  trying  to 
understand  or  interpret  them  in  the  light  of  facts  and 
truths  already  known;  next  one  recalls  in  due  order 
the  facts  of  the  passage :  then  follows  an  oral  or  written 
recitation  upon  the  topic ;  and  this  recitation  is  repeated 
and  reviewed  in  analysis  and  in  association  over  and 
over  in  drill  until  the  topic  is  learned.  To  accomplish 
this  process,  one  needs  to  read  or  to  hear  accurately; 
eye  or  ear  must  be  keen  and  true.  The  next  stage  in 
the  process  is  that  of  summoning  enough  knowledge  to 
enable  one  to  understand  the  words  heard  or  read. 
We  cannot  teach  history  at  all  to  small  children  be- 
cause they  do  not  yet  know  enough  social  and  his- 
torical facts  to  understand  any  historical  topic.  We 
say  that  they  do  not  yet  know  the  meaning  of  words: 
what  we  mean  is  that  they  have  as  yet  no  content  of 
knowledge  for  the  words  to  designate.  The  other 
stages  of  the  process, — recalling,  trying  to  use,  suc- 
ceeding, doing  and  drilling, — are  without  the  technical 
difficulties  of  this  second  stage  of  apperception  or 
understanding;  but  they  are  quite  as  necessary  for 
the  completion  of  a  real  act  of  learning.  When  we 
have  only  the  power  to  remember  a  thing  and  cannot 
use  it,  we  do  not  yet  know  the  thing. 

This  getting  of  our  knowledge  beyond  the  stage  of 

7 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

mere  i-ecall,  to  the  point  where  it  helps  us  understand 
new  facts  and  can  perform,  as  it  were,  the  mental  di- 
gestive function  is  a  mysterious  enough  matter.  Per- 
haps it  can  be  best  understood  by  an  illustration.  Ever 
since  humanity  began  upon  the  earth,  it  has  been 
entirely  obvious  that  all  men  are  alike  creatures  of 
one  universal  Nature  ("  children  of  one  common  Father," 
to  put  this  truth  in  religious  phrase);  but  men  were 
long  centuries  in  discovering  that  there  is  a  resultant 
truth, — that  all  are  equal  (that  is,  "brothers,"  in  the 
religious  term).  At  last,  however,  this  idea  or  fact  be- 
came a  truth  that  went  to  work  in  the  minds  of  men 
and  began  to  overthrow  govermnents  of  privilege  and 
to  establish  democracy.  It  overthrew  serfdom  in  Russia 
and  slavery  in  America.  Wliere  this  idea  will  end  in 
its  business  of  chgesting  the  old  social  institutions,  of 
course,  we  cannot  foresee. 

Perhaps  another  illustration  will  serve  better.  Often, 
a  child  knows  verbatim  every  multiplication  table;  and 
yet  cannot  multiply  either  correctly  or  quickly.  Often, 
he  knows  the  rules  of  all  the  arithmetical  operations  in- 
volved in  a  problem;  but  cannot  perform  them  properly. 

In  these  instances,  the  idea,  though  remembered,  is 
still  in  a  compartment  of  the  mind, as  it  were;  but  it  has 
no  power  to  walk  up  and  down  the  hall  and  stairways, 
opening  doors  and  shutting  them,  and  really  to  live. 
The  business  of  the  teacher  is  to  help  the  pupil  learn 
so  well  that  he  has  many  important  "live  ideas." 

Ideas  should  not  be  merely  "committed  to  memory," 
— stored  like  merchandise  in  boxes.  They  should  not 
be  like  articles  of  furniture,  however  handsome  and 
useful  in  the  house, — movable  at  the  will  of  the  house- 
keeper.    But  they  should  be  like  trees  in  the  orchard, 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

fruit-bearing;  like  flowers  in  the  garden,  seed-scatter- 
ing; like  animals  and  birds  and  fishes,  moving  and 
alive. 

In  respect  to  an  exercise,  the  learning  process  em- 
phasizes such  different  stages  as  to  seem  quite  different 
from  what  it  is  in  the  case  of  a  study.  The  first  stage 
^consists  in  seeing  what  is  done:  or  when  this  is  not 
possible,  in  proceeding  step  by  step  according  to  the 
directions  of  one  who  has  seen  the  thing  done.  In  the 
normal  instance,  however,  the  learner  first  observes 
what  one  who  knows  how  to  do  the  exercise  actually 
does.  The  learner  may  need  to  watch  the  thing  as  it 
is  being  done  several,  even  many  times,  in  order  to 
acquire  a  reasonably  complete  knowledge  of  what  in 
fact  the  exercise  is. 

The  next  stage  is  understanding  what  the  exer- 
cise is. 

As  in  the  case  of  a  study,  when  the  pupil,  though 
closely  observing  the  exercise,  does  not  understand  it, — 
that  is,  knows  too  little  to  interpret  or  comprehend  it, — 
then  the  subject  is  beyond  him.  This,  then,  is  the 
stage  for  rejection  of  the  exercise,  just  as  it  would  be 
in  the  case  of  a  topic  in  a  study.  Something  else  that 
is  easier  should  be  taught  instead;  usually,  it  should 
be  chosen  as  adapted  for  teacliing  in  preparation  for  the 
exercise  or  study  that  has  proven  on  trial  too  hard.^ 

One  may  understand  an  exercise  without  being  able 
to  explain  it  in  words.  One  usually  does  understand 
an  exercise  when  one  feels  ready  or  at  least  willing  to 
undertake  it.  Occasionally,  a  pupil  of  undue  motor- 
activity  is,  therefore,  unduly  confident  and  undertakes 
what  he  cannot  perform. 

.  *  See  pages  224-228,  on  the  locus  of  a  study  or  of  a  topic. 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 

The  third  stage  in  learning  an  exercise  is  remember- 
ing in  proper  order  the  steps  involved  in  its  process 
and  how  to  take  these  steps,  which  is  part  of  under- 
standing it. 

The  fourth  stage  is  trying  to  do  it.  Then  one  keeps 
on  trying  again  and  again  until  one  succeeds.  Actually 
to  succeed  is  the  fifth  stage. 

In  the  case  of  an  exercise,  the  steps  in  these  two 
stages  are  often  many.  An  exercise  is  likely  to  involve 
visible,  or  at  least  demonstrable,  physical  activity.  To 
illustrate: — The  learner  is  trying  to  learn  how  to  paint  a 
sunset  landscape  in  water-color.  He  sees  his  teacher 
make  such  a  picture, — sees  the  water,  the  colors,  the 
brush,  the  paper,  the  moving  hand,  the  beginning  of  the 
picture,  its  development  stroke  by  stroke;  at  last,  the 
sunset  is  there  before  Mm.  He  thinks  this  all  out  and 
comes  to  understand  what  was  done  and  how  it  was 
done.  The  teacher  has  paused  and  stopped.  He  re- 
members what  she  has  done.  He  wishes  to  try  to  do 
it  himself.  This  is  the  imitation  phase  of  the  process 
of  learning.  We  can  and  should  imitate  in  respect  to 
learning  and  exercise;  but  we  cannot  imitate  in  respect 
to  study. 

We  may  appear  to  study,  though  not  studying;  but 
we  cannot  appear  to  exercise  without  exercising. 

This  is  one  of  several  good  reasons  for  putting  many 
exercises  in  our  school-courses.  They  defeat  every 
attempt  at  deceit  and  prevent  the  development  of  in 
sincerity  and  hypocrisy.  A  boy  may  claim  to  know 
either  a  history  lesson  or  an  arithmetic  rule,  without 
being  able  to  put  it  into  words.  His  teacher  cannot 
well  prove  that  he  does  not  know  the  history  topic 
,at  least  in  the  sense  of  understanding  it;  but  by  giving 

10 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

to  him  a  problem  that  involves  the  arithmetic  rule, 
the  teacher  can  easily  show  even  to  the  pupil  himself 
whether  or  not  he  understands  it. 

This  may  be  made  plainer  by  illustration  from  such 
a  manual  art  as  carpentry.  A  pupil  may  profess  to 
know  how  to  make  a  true  joint:  he  may  even  be  able 
to  tell  how  to  make  one.  But  until  he  has  made  one, 
proof  of  his  knowledge  is  wanting.  To  make  a  true 
joint, — as  for  a  picture  frame, — involves  knowing  tools 
and  their  uses,  wood  and  its  use,  and  the  principles  of 
lines  and  angles;  and  it  also  involves  the  power  to 
direct  and  to  control  the  bones  and  muscles  of  the 
body,  to  make  arm  and  hand  execute  the  designs  of 
the  mind.  The  directing  and  controlling  of  the  body 
is  a  dual  process  in  which  both  mind  and  body  act, — 
the  mind  acting  in  unknown  ways  through  the  nerves 
causes  movements  in  the  muscles  that  control  sinew, 
tendon,  bone,  and  joint.  Technically,  the  dual  process 
is  styled  "  psychophysical "  or  "  physiopsychical."  When 
the  act  is  conceived  as  initiated  by  the  mind  and  pro- 
ceeding into  the  body,  the  term  "psychophysical" — 
mind-to-body — is  appropriate.  When  the  act  is  con- 
ceived as  due  to  bodily  impulses  arousing  the  mind,  the 
term  "  physiopsychical" — body-to-mind — is  appropriate. 
The  subject  in  its  farther  development,  however,  be- 
longs rather  in  the  field  of  psychology  than  in  the 
present  field  of  instruction  and  management. 

When  the  pupil  has  passed  the  stage  of  successful 
coordination  of  mind  and  body  so  that  he  can  perform 
the  exercise,  before  he  knows  it  in  the  full  sense  of 
knowing,  he  must  repeat  it  again  and  again  until  per- 
formance becomes  facile,  steady,  reliable,  and  at  last 

apparently  unconscious  or  automatic.    The  body  now 

11 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

functions  in  respect  to  the  idea  of  the  exercise.  In 
learning  an  exercise,  drill  is  yet  more  important  than 
in  the  case  of  learning  a  topic  in  a  study.  When  drill 
has  accomplished  its  perfect  work  so  that  the  pupil 
always  does  the  exercise  well,  he  has  reached  the  stage 
of  genuine  skill;  and  the  goal  has  been  attained.  In 
this  stage,  the  exercise  is  a  habit,  by  which  the  person 
is  controlled. 

Whether  the  matter  in  hand  be  a  topic  in  a  study 
or  an  exercise  in  a  craft  or  art,  the  stages  are  these — viz., 
observing,  perceiving,  understanding,  remembering, 
trying  to  do,  succeeding,  doing  again,  repeating,  and 
drill.  To  travel  this  road  under  competent  direction  is 
to  learn  at  school:  to  travel  it  without  competent  di- 
rection is  to  learn-by-oneself,  which  is  usually  too  diffi- 
cult to  permit  one  to  succeed. 

But  in  travelling  tliis  road, — that  is,  in  learning, — 
not  all  persons  encounter  the  same  difficulties  in  them- 
selves. On  the  contrary,  each  person  has  his  own 
characteristic  difficulties  in  learning.  In  principle,  the 
learning  process  is  always  the  same;  but  in  the  concrete 
instances  of  the  individuals  who  learn,  the  process 
takes  on  individual  phases. 

It  requires  but  ordinary  observation  of  men  and 
women,  of  boys  and  girls,  to  see  that  some  persons 
learn  certain  kinds  of  things  easily  wliile  others  learn 
them  with  difficulty.  It  requires  but  a  little  keener 
and  closer  observation  to  discover  that,  in  many  in- 
stances, those  who  learn  some  things  easily  can  scarcely 
learn  other  things  at  all.  Shrewd  general  students  of 
human  nature  refuse  to  allow  their  fellows  to  be  classi- 
fied as  "dull,"  "average,"  "bright";  or  as  "slow," 
"average,"    "quick";     or    as    "strong,"    "average," 

12 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

"weak";  or  as  "clever,"  "average,"  "stupid."  They 
know  that  "dullness"  in  one  line  is  not  incompatible 
with  "brightness"  in  another;  that  the  man  who  is 
stupid  in  respect  to  books  is  often  clever  with  tools. 
Those  with  scientific  minds  see  that  there  are  certain 
differences  of  the  types  of  temperament  that  affect 
vitally  the  efficiency  of  individuals,  their  morals,  their 
intelligence,  their  powers  to  learn  various  things. 

There  are  indeed  two  distinct  kinds  of  humanity, — 
the  motor  or  active  and  the  sedentary  or  sessile.  Each 
of  these  two  kinds  has  subdivisions.  We  have  the 
muscular  motor  and  the  nervous  motor;  and  we  have 
the  corpulent  sedentary  and  the  reflective  or  specula- 
tive sedentary.  We  find  these  types  represented  in 
their  purity  in  some  individuals  and  in  various  com- 
binations in  other  individuals.  We  may  easily  push 
our  distinctions  to  the  point  of  uselessness;  even  to 
that  of  absurdity.  But  for  the  practical  purposes  of 
education,  we  know  that  the  learning  process  of  a 
bright,  active,  nervous  boy  does  not  manifest  itself  in 
him  in  the  same  way  when  he  is  learning  a  geography 
or  a  Latin  lesson  as  it  does  when  he  is  learning  to  draw 
on  paper  the  perspective  of  a  box  or  to  make  the  box 
out  of  wood.  We  know  also  the  learning  process  of  a 
slow,  indolent,  calm  boy  manifests  itself  both  in  study 
and  in  exercise  differently  from  the  learning  process  of 
the  other  kind  of  boy.  We  know  that  in  the  school 
period  prior  to  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age  these 
differences  of  temperament  make  greater  differences  for 
the  teacher  than  any  differences  of  sex,  or  of  race,  or  of 
language,  or  of  religion  among  the  pupils.  Later,  the 
social  environment  and  sex  and  race-heredity  increase 
in  relative  importance;    but  no  other  difference  ever 

13 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

transcends  in  importance  the  congenital  difference  in 
temperament. 

The  matter  can  be  clearly  seen  in  the  examination 
of  the  whole  educational  process  of  which  the  learning 
process  is  but  a  part,  though  an  essential  part,  because 
serving  as  its  means.  The  stages  of  the  educational 
process  are  four — iriz.: 

Motivation,  intelligence,  efficiency,  morality. 

Obviously,  for  the  boy  who  is  born  with  physical 
strength  and  energy,  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  ac- 
quire a  proper  development  of  motivation  and  of 
efficiency.  Similarly,  for  the  boy  who  is  born  with  a 
reflective  sedentary  temperament,  it  is  comparatively 
easy  to  acquire  a  proper  development  of  intelligence. 
Also,  for  the  boy  born  with  an  easy,  joyous,  comfort- 
able, complacent  temperament,  morality  (wliieh  is 
largely  sympathy)  is  not  hard  to  learn.  The  nervous 
or  ideo-motor  boy,  who  naturally  jumps  to  do  things, 
has  already  come  a  considerable  way  up  the  educational 
road,  or  rather  he  can  travel  it  quickly  to  the  point  of 
efficiency.  But  in  each  instance,  the  converse  is  also 
true.  The  boy  mth  the  motor  temperament,  whether 
muscular  or  nervous,  finds  that  complete  and  continued 
inliibition  hard  in  which  are  developed  the  power  and  the, 
disposition  to  consider  a  matter  through  to  its  limits.  He 
would  rather  act  than  think.  This  same  boy  who,  once 
having  learned  the  habit  of  thinking,  has  then  proceeded 
rapidly  through  the  efficiency  stage  comes  to  trouble 
again  in  the  field  of  morality,  for  he  is  too  aggressive  to 
concede  freely  the  rights  of  others.  The  complacent, 
corpulent,  cheerful  boy  is  weak  in  motivation  and  must 
be  stimulated  right  through  the  educational  j^eriod  be- 
yond the  stage  of  efficiency;  yet  when  efficient, he  needs 

14 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

but  little  training  in  morals,  for  he  is  apt  to  have  much 
consideration  for  others.  The  reflective  sedentary  boy 
is  weak  in  physical  motivation,  readily  becomes  intelli- 
gent through  information,  seldom  has  been  brought  to 
real  efficiency,  and  is  not  likely  to  care  enough  for 
others  and  for  human  society  as  a  whole  ever  to  be  wholly 
and  broadly  moral. 

These  observations  acquire  patent  acceptability  when 
we  consider  that,  of  the  muscular  motor,  we  make 
executives,  warriors,  farmers,  mechanics,  rulers,  and  all 
kinds  of  men  of  achievement.  Of  the  nervous  motor, 
we  make  teachers,  artists,  clerks,  tradesmen,  secre- 
taries, editors,  lawyers,  preachers,  doctors.  Of  the  cor- 
pulent vital  type,  we  make  hotel-keepers,  politicians, 
judges,  cooks,  and  all  the  range  of  the  friends  of  men. 
And  of  the  speculative  thoughtful  persons,  we  make 
poets,  philosophers,  authors,  statesmen,  inventors, 
social  reformers,  impatient  with  things  as  they  are. 
Or  to  put  the  truth  exactly,  the  square-headed  and 
square-faced  men  with  the  thick,  muscular  bodies 
naturally  become  generals,  rulers,  mechanics,  farmers 
and  all  other  kinds  of  hard  physical  workers.  The 
steam  locomotive  engineer  is  always  of  this  type.  The 
long-headed,  rectangular-faced  men  naturally  become 
masters  of  the  professions,  active  tradesmen,  artists. 
The  popular  orator  in  the  legislature  is  usually  of  this 
type.  The  round-headed,  round-bodied,  round-faced 
man  who  is  disposed  to  sit  and  think  and  likewise  to 
feel  for  himself  and  his  fellows  becomes,  perforce  of  his 
constitution,  the  judge  of  affairs,  the  provider  of  good 
things  to  eat,  the  "boss"  of  his  ward  or  town  or 
State.  The  large  -  headed,  triangular  -  faced,  small- 
bodied  man  dreams  of  some  kind  of  empire — of  the 

15 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

reason  perhaps,  but  sometimes  of  the  world  of  real- 
ities. 

In  the  Hght  of  these  facts  of  the  fundamental  con- 
stitutions of  men,  it  is  plain  that  they  must  differ  great- 
ly from  one  another  when  they  set  out  of  themselves, 
or  are  set  by  others,  to  learning  one  tiling  and  another 
in  school  or  in  the  rest  of  the  world  of  life.  One  rushes 
eagerly  into  the  task  to  be  learned,  but  soon  wearies, 
while  another  begins  sluggishly  and  develops  strength 
and  speed  as  he  goes  forward.  Such  are  their  birtli 
fates. 

Other  considerations  besides  these  attend  the  in- 
quiry into  the  nature  of  the  learning  processes.  The 
name  of  a  study  conveys  but  little  information  as  to 
the  mode  to  be  followed  in  learning  it.  History  taught 
by  one  method  and  by  one  set  of  devices  is  one  thing, 
while  history  covering  the  same  facts  but  taught  by 
another  method  with  another  set  of  devices  is  almost 
an  entirely  different  thing.  In  each  case,  the  pupil 
who  successfully  learns  his  lessons  learns  history,  but 
in  many  aspects  his  learning  process  varies  as  the 
method  varies.  In  truth,  he  must  go  through  the  same 
stages  whatever  be  the  method,  but  the  delays  at  the 
stages  vary  the  character  of  the  learning.  One  who 
should  go  from  Boston  to  Los  Angeles  pausing  one  day 
in  New  York,  two  days  in  Chicago,  three  days  in  Kansas 
City,  four  days  in  Denver  and  five  days  in  San  Fran- 
cisco would  have  a  very  different  report  to  make  from 
that  of  another  who  should  pause  a  week  at  New  York, 
a  day  at  Chicago,  another  week  at  Kansas  City,  not  at 
all  at  Denver  and  a  day  only  at  San  Francisco.  Yet 
each  would  arrive  at  Los  Angeles  with  some  knowledge 
of  the  route.     In  the  same  way,  learning  verbatim  a 

16 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

good  account  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  is  quite  a  dif- 
ferent thing  from  learning  it  dramatically  in  a  lesson 
in  which  Seminary  Ridge  and  Cemetery  Ridge  are 
represented  by  rows  of  furniture  and  the  charge  of 
Pickett's  men  acted  out  by  the  learners  themselves. 
In  the  first  case,  one  learns  the  story  and  how  to  tell  it 
in  words.  In  the  second  instance,  he  feels  the  emotions 
of  that  great  event.  The  difference  is  that  between 
literary  accomplishment  and  dramatic  or  practical 
efficiency.  It  is  narrative,  even  picturing,  in  words  over 
against  realization. 

The  trend  of  modern  educational  method  is  so  strong- 
ly in  the  direction  of  learning  by  doing,  whenever  such 
a  method  of  learning  is  feasible,  that  it  is  well  to  see 
clearly  that  this  method  amounts  to  a  rediscovery  of 
the  place  of  working  efficiency  among  the  ideals  of 
education.  It  had  long  been  forgotten  from  an  over- 
care  for  intelligence  alone.  We  are  soon  to  rediscover 
both  personal  and  social  morality  as  another  and  yet 
higher  ideal. 

It  is  a  singular  instance  of  the  richness  and  of  the 
close  interweaving  of  language  that  while  to  "learn" 
means  to  ''go  over"  and  "teach"  means  "show," 
"method"  means  "main-travelled  road."  One  who 
learns  travels  by  a  highway  through  a  region  with  a 
guide.  "What  the  region  is  depends  upon  the  subject 
to  be  learned.  Wliat  the  highway  is  depends  partly 
upon  the  nature  of  the  subject  and  partly  upon  the 
skill  of  the  guide.  As  with  the  advance  of  civilization 
in  a  country,  the  engineers  are  ever  laying  out  better 
highroads,  so  with  the  advance  of  culture,  the  scholars 
and  thinkers  are  ever  finding  better  methods  in  sciences, 
in  arts,  in  all  bodies  and  systems  of  knowledge  and  in 

17 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

all  skills  and  crafts.  It  is  a  common  philosophical  be- 
lief that  every  science  and  every  art  has  an  inherent 
and  essential  logic  that  determines  its  method.  It 
should  be  the  pm'pose  of  every  scientist,  artist  and 
philosopher  to  help  find  the  true  method  and  the 
essential  logic  of  his  science  or  art  or  pliilosophy. 
But  until  these  are  discovered,  practical  teachers 
must  resort  to  some  common  principles  of  present- 
ing facts  and  truths.  These  principles  are  grouped  and 
systematized  under  such  names  as  ''inductive,"  "de- 
ductive," and  "heuristic";  meaning  respectively  draw- 
ing conclusions  from  facts  gathered,  applying  generali- 
zations to  new  facts,  and  discovering  or  reviewing  both 
facts  and  generalizations.^  This  is  a  theme  belonging 
specifically  to  the  question  of  the  teaching  processes  but 
not  negligible  here  in  brief  notice  for  one  sufficient  reason, 
— the  learning  process  controls  the  teaching  process, 
and  the  learning  process  traces  the  method  appro- 
priate to  the  field  of  the  subject,  whether  study  or 
exercise. 

In  consequence,  the  good  text-book  and  the  good 
lesson  alike  are  true  not  only  to  the  subject  matter  with 
which  they  are  concerned  but  also  to  the  intellectual 
and  other  processes  involved  in  learning  them. 

The  origin  of  the  learning  process  is  motivation. 
Mental  motivation  is  conditioned  upon  developing  more 
energy  than  is  at  once  consumed  in  operating  the  body 
itself, — its  food,  digestion,  metabolism,  blood-circulation, 
etc.  It  is  not  literally  true  that  the  mind  cannot  work 
in  an  unhealthy  body.  But  it  is  literally  true  that  the 
mind  operates  only  when  there  is  surplus  energy  above 
the  constant  needs  of  the  body  for  the  maintenance  of 

^  See  page  36,  et  sea. 
18 


AN    OUT-OF-DOOR    KINDERGARTEN.       , 


MAL    SCHOOL,  SAN    JOSE,  CALIFORNIA 


THE    LEARNING    PROCESSES 

its  life.  With  this  qualification,  one  may  safely  say 
that  motivation  depends  upon  health  and  strength. 

Motivation  manifests  itself  intellectually  as  curiosity, 
and  physically  as  action,  or  "restlessness."  It  is  im- 
possible to  develop  intelligence  in  one  who  is  without 
curiosity,  or  efficiency  in  one  who  is  without  activity. 

Interest  is  curiosity  toward  some  definite  end.  It 
presupposes  some  previous  knowledge,  however  slight. 
Purpose  is  activity  toward  some  end.  It  presupposes 
previous  effort,  however  slight.  Motivation  expresses 
itself  in  its  earliest  mode  as  impulse.  Its  higher  modes 
are  sentiment,  emotion,  affection,  passion,  like  and  dis- 
like, love  and  hate.  The  extent  and  the  force,  the  fre- 
quency and  the  continuousness  of  motivation  measure 
accurately  the  original  and  primitive  educability  of  the 
individual.  These  are  fundamental  matters  deep  be- 
low temperament,  below  the  psychical  faculties  of  sensa- 
tion, perception,  memory,  imagination,  judgment,  fancy, 
reasoning,  below  psychical  rate,  psychical  field,  reten- 
tiveness,  and  all  the  other  matters  into  which  physio- 
psychology  is  now  making  eager  inquiries.  These  are 
the  primary  matters  of  power,  speed,  repetition  and 
persistence  in  the  physical  constitution  of  the  individual, 
his  capital  for  living.  They  are  deep  down  below  the 
power  to  learn;  they  concern  the  facility  and  strength 
with  which  one  can  pursue  the  learning  process.  How 
much,  by  intelligent  purpose  when  one  has  arrived  at 
knowledge  of  oneself,  one  can  change  these  funda- 
mental matters  of  inheritance  is  a  moot  question  of  the 
practical  philosophy  of  conduct.  The  soul  builds  the 
body  slowly  and  can  change  it  but  slightly  after  the 
structure  is  reared. 

These  changes  are  made,  whatever  be  the  tempera- 
3  19 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

ment,  little  by  little,  day  by  day,  year  by  year,  in  the 
course  of  learning  one  thing  and  another  and  another 
through  the  long  period  of  schooling  in  ci\dlization. 
The  ideo-motor  learn  to  consider  and  not  to  act  too 
impulsively,  the  sedentary  acquire  activity,  the  muscu- 
lar motor  learn,  if  not  to  originate  ideas,  at  least  to  use 
good  ones.  For  the  learning  process  is  essentially  the 
educative  process.  Guided,  corrected,  stimulated,  en- 
riched by  the  true  teacher,  it  broadens  and  strengthens 
character.  In  this  sense,  not  what  we  learn  but  how 
we  learn  what  we  learn  is  the  most  important  concern 
in  our  education.  Though  essential,  what  we  learn  is 
secondary  and  not  primary  in  importance. 

Not  to  skip  any  necessary  stage  in  learning  any  mat- 
ter but  to  go  thoroughly  and  faithfully,  step  by  step  and 
stage  by  stage  over  the  road  is  to  supplement  at  least 
in  part  the  natural  deficiencies  of  one's  original  equip- 
ment for  life. 

A  native  learning  process,  fairly  rational  in  the  be- 
ginning, acquires  discipline  and  proficiency  in  the  very 
business  of  acquiring  knowledge  of  facts  and  principles. 
And  discipline,  which  is  habituation,  is  gained  through 
marshalling  facts  and  appl3dng  principles. 

The  habit  of  learning,  which  results  from  the  constant 
exercising  of  the  learning  process  in  good  school  educa- 
tion, is  the  most  important  habit  that  one  can  form.  It 
gives  to  character  patience  and  diligence  in  getting  facts 
and  truths,  and  likewise  in  correcting  one's  own  errors. 

In  observing  the  way  in  which  pupils  learn,  the  teacher 
must  needs  eliminate  from  his  own  vision  the  colors  and 
the  angles  of  his  own  individuality  and  cleanse  liim- 
self  (or  herself)  from  any  notion  that  conformity  to  his 
own  way  of  learning  would  certainly  benefit  aU  the 

20 


THE   LEARNING   PROCESSES 

pupils.  What  does  this  pupil  most  need  in  order  to 
realize  the  best  of  his  own  nature? — should  be  the 
uppermost  question  in  the  teacher's  mind. 

There  are  indeed  golden  moments  of  inspiration  both 
to  teacher  and  to  pupils  in  school  days;  but  not  gold 
but  rather  hammered  and  tempered  steel  is  the  metal 
by  which  in  this  age  character  may  most  fitly  be  stand- 
ardized. Learning  all  that  one  needs  in  this  civilization 
is  possible  to  but  few.  Learning  even  a  little  is  hot, 
hard,  long  labor  like  travelling  a  road  in  the  sun  and 
wind.     Easy  learning  there  never  was. 

All  learning  requires,  in  respect  to  external  informa- 
tion, attention — the  holding  of  the  mind  to  the  things 
before  the  special  sense.  It  requires,  in  respect  to  in- 
ternal pictures  and  notion,  concentration, — the  holding, 
within  the  mind,  of  the  things  there,  about  some  common 
center.  To  attend  and  to  concentrate  test  at  once 
intelligence  and  will,  and  thereby  train  them, — literally 
draw  them  out. 

To  know  the  learning  process  is  to  possess  the  first 
principles  of  the  art  of  study  and  of  the  art  of  teaching. 

Such  is  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  that  though, 
in  one  sense,  "the  only  way  to  learn  is  to  learn  one 
thing  at  a  time,"  in  another  sense  we  cannot  learn  one 
thing  at  a  time.  In  learning,  one  pursues  a  track  for 
a  time  and  wearies.  One  must  then  either  rest  com- 
pletely, as  in  sleep,  or  change  to  the  pursuit  of  some- 
thing else.  "One  thing  at  a  time"  means  following 
that  road,  turning  neither  to  right  nor  to  left  until 
weariness  sets  in  or  success  is  achieved.  With  each 
period  of  learning,  the  way  up  to  the  limits  of  what 
has  been  learned  before,  grows  easier.  "A  thing  is 
never  learned  by  itself"  means  that  one  fact  helps  to 

21 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

interpret  another.  Apperception  is  the  merger  or 
coalescence  of  one  idea  with  another  idea  or  with  a 
notion  compounded  of  other  ideas.  Mind  is  a  more 
or  less  organized  mass  of  various  bodies  of  apperceived 
ideas. 

To  pursue  one  thing  at  a  time  promotes  clearness; 
to  associate  it  with  other  things,  however,  promotes 
understanding.  To  see  the  fact  as  it  is, — to  isolate  it 
and  to  see  all  around  it, — is  to  conquer  and  to  possess  it 
as  one's  own.  To  put  it  into  due  relations  with  other 
facts  is  to  use  it  as  a  tool  for  getting,  or  for  understand- 
ing, other  facts. 

How  we  see  facts,  how  we  correlate  them,  how  we 
form  general  notions,  how  mind  grows:  these  and  many 
allied  questions  belong  to  the  science  of  mind,  which  is 
an  essential  study  constantly  to  be  kept  fresh  by  re- 
newed pursuit, — a  study  not  only  for  teachei's  but  also 
for  all  others  who  are  engaged  in  any  way  in  social 
chrection  or  in  social  control.  But  intimate  psychology 
is  not  the  theme  of  this  book,  which  proposes  not  to 
dwell  upon  the  mind  of  the  learner  but  rather  to  enter 
upon  that  other  side  of  the  matter  of  education,  the  art 
of  the  teacher  in  helping  the  learner. 

For  our  purposes  here,  it  is  sufficient  to  have  in  our 
general  view  the  genetic  processes  by  which  motivation 
via  attention,  interest,  association  and  judgment  may 
eventuate  in  reason;  by  which  ideation  via  functioning 
and  habit  may  develop  into  character;  and  obedience 
to  persons  via  obedience  to  rules,  laws  and  customs  may 
become  obedience  to  principles,  which  is  rationality  or 
reasonableness.  These  are  processes  in  which  progress 
is  easier  for  some  than  for  others  but  possible,  under 
right  guidance,  to  all  originally  sound  minds. 

22 


"Since  the  development  of  the  natural  gifts  of  man  does 
not  take  place  of  itself,  all  education  is  an  art.  Man  may 
be  either  broken  in,  trained,  and  mechanically  taught,  or 
he  may  be  really  enlightened." — Immanuel  Kant,  On 
Pedagogij.     1803. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    TEACHING    PROCESSES    FROM   THE    POINT    OF 
VIEW   OF    LEARNING 

Helping  the  learner  and  transmitting  knowledge. — Limitations 
constitute  the  nature  of  art. — The  general  teaching  process. — Special 
teaching  processes;  inductive  recitations;  deductive  lessons;  ques- 
tion-and-answer  reviews;  study-lessons;  drills;  laboratory  experi- 
ments; lectures;  seminars;  library-work;  translation;  tests  and 
examinations. 

TEACHING  has  two  purposes, — ^helping  the  learner 
for  his  own  sake,  and  preserving  knowledge  in  the 
world  by  imparting  it  to  others.  To  "teach"  is  to 
"show,"  to  show  both  "what"  and  "how."  The 
teacher  shows  the  learner  the  way  to  arrive  at  facts  or 
principles  not  yet  known  by  the  learner.  The  teacher 
follows  a  method  or  way  that  he  himself  has  already 
travelled. 

It  may  serve  as  a  help  to  a  distinct  understanding  of 
what  teaching  is  to  notice  what,  in  certain  aspects,  four 
other  professions  are, — medicine,  ministry,  law,  journal- 
ism. These  professions,  like  education,  deal  with  the 
direction,  control  and  correction  of  persons.  One  func- 
tion of  medicine  is  curing  the  sick,  sometimes  the  minds 
of  the  sick,  by  caring  for  their  bodies  as  in  the  case  of 
the  insane.  One  function  of  the  ministry  is  preaching, 
which  literally  is  "speaking  out,"  "telling"  the  news  or 
the  truth  or  giving  advice.     One  function  of  the  law  is 

25 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

making  others  follow  a  prescribed  track.  One  function 
of  journalism  in  its  largest  sense  is  that  of  daily  pub- 
lishing facts  and  opinions  in  the  hope  and  faith  that 
ideas,  not  forces,  rule  the  world. 

Teaching  as  the  fundamental  art  of  civilization  par- 
takes of  all  these  functions.  Teachers  equip  physicians 
and  surgeons,  priests  and  ministers,  lawyers  and  judges, 
journalists  and  men  of  letters,  for  their  work  in  the 
world, — as  they  do  nearly  all  other  men.  The  day  is 
being  approached  when  teachers  will  equip  women  with 
the  information  requisite  for  most  of  their  work  also. 
The  teacher  cares  for  the  sick  minds  of  children  and 
youth;  preaches  facts  in  season  and  often  out  of  season; 
''lays  down  the  law"  in  school  and  college;  and  tries 
to  advance  humanity  to  the  age  when  wisdom  and  not 
fear  of  material  force  will  be  sovereign,  and  when  per- 
sonal and  social  conduct  will  proceed  from  righteous 
choice  and  not  from  external  necessity  or  from  caprice. 

The  teacher  works  in  these  ways  to  these  ends  under 
many  limitations.  Such  limitations,  however,  char- 
acterize every  art,  and  in  a  sense  create  the  necessity 
for  the  art.  The  glory  of  the  art  of  the  violinist  con- 
sists partly  in  the  fact  that  from  a  small,  thin  box  of 
wood,  as  a  sounding-board  for  four  taut  strings  vibrated 
by  a  bow  with  other  taut  strings,  he  is  able  to  draw  finer 
music  than  issues  from  any  other  instrument  however 
large  and  complicated.  His  triumph  is  that  of  skill  and 
of  time,  of  patience  and  talent  over  apparently  extreme 
limitations.  The  artist  seems  to  make  his  very  limita- 
tions contribute  to  his  success;  as  black  heightens  white, 
as  reHef  from  pain  is  pleasure,  as  surrounding  poverty 
accentuates  in  the  wealthy  their  comfort,  as  the  over- 
coming of  sin  makes  the  victory  of  righteousness.    The 

26 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

laws  of  the  theme,  the  versification,  the  rhythm  and  the 
rhyme  of  the  sonnet  are  severe:  their  severity  contrib- 
utes to  the  joy  in  a  perfect  sonnet,  such  as  "Giotto's 
Tower,"  by  Longfellow. 

The  limitations  of  an  art  in  respect  to  its  medium  and 
its  tools  are  its  conditions.  Among  the  obvious  condi- 
tions of  the  art  of  teaching  are  the  respective  tempera- 
ments, ages  and  sexes  of  teacher  and  of  learner,  who 
must  be  brought  into  harmonious  relations;  the  nature 
itself  of  the  learning  process;  the  nature  of  the  general 
teaching  process,  which  must  fitly  parallel  the  general 
learning  process;  the  social  opinion  of  parents,  of  others 
in  authority  or  of  influence,  and  of  the  community  in 
general,  which  insists  upon  social  indoctrination  of  the 
learner  in  certain  matters  but  prohibits  his  indoctrina- 
tion as  to  others ;  the  place  of  the  teaching,  its  time,  the 
materials  afforded,  and  the  companions,  if  any,  asso- 
ciated as  learners. 

The  art  of  class-teaching  has  yet  other  and  closer 
conditions  or  restrictions.  In  consequence,  it  requires 
finer  skill  and  larger  scholarship  to  be  a  teacher  of  a 
class  of  forty  or  sixty  or  perhaps  a  hundred  than  to  be 
a  tutor  of  an  individual  learner  or  of  a  small  group.  In 
the  large  class,  there  is  a  variety  of  persons,  who  differ 
in  temperament  in  wide  extremes  and  often  consider- 
ably in  age.  Usually,  both  sexes  are  represented;  and 
in  public  schools,  of  whatever  grade,  all  social  classes 
and  conditions.  In  cities,  the  public  school  attendance 
includes  many  different  nationalities  and  races,  religions 
and  languages.  In  an  extreme  instance,  a  class  of  forty- 
five  pupils  has  been  known  to  include  fourteen  different 
nationahties,  three  different  races,  five  different  rehgions, 
and  nine  different  languages.     In  all  instances  approxi- 

27 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

mating  such  extremes  as  this,  the  only  safety  of  the 
teacher  in  instruction  and  in  management  consists  in 
faithfully  observing  the  general  principles  of  the  teach- 
ing process;  special  variations  to  suit  the  few  Hun- 
garians or  the  several  Itahans  or  the  Russian  Jews 
confuse  all  the  others. 

The  teacher  who  would  intelligently  and  successfully 
adapt  his  or  her  teaching  methods  to  the  class  needs 
first  of  all  to  understand  the  characteristics  of  pupils  of 
the  ages  represented  in  the  class.  According  as  the 
pupils  are  younger,  the  element  of  trying  to  help  the 
learner  for  his  own  sake  is  more  important;  as  they 
are  older,  the  element  of  meaning  to  keep  knowledge 
alive  in  the  world  is  more  important.  In  a  general  way, 
in  elementary  schools,  the  first  purpose  predominates; 
in  secondary  schools,  the  purposes  are  nearer  at  even 
balance;  in  the  higher  education  of  college  and  uni- 
versity, the  main  purpose  is  to  continue  science,  art,  and 
philosophy  in  the  world. 

Some  of  the  errors  of  teachers  proceed  from  failure 
to  observe  this  clear  and  simple  principle.  To  illus- 
trate : — In  a  colored  school  in  Southern  Alabama,  for  an 
hour  the  teacher  struggled  mth  her  primary  class  in  an 
effort  to  teach  them  the  names  of  the  first  five  books 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  well  worth  while  to  know  the  names, 
of  course;  but  smaU  children  are  not  the  proper  field 
for  sowing  this  kind  of  seed.  Again,  a  faculty  of  a 
university  reversed  its  policy,  and  thereafter  it  granted 
no  higher  professional  degrees  in  one  of  its  graduate 
schools  to  industrious  but  mediocre  students,  however 
meritorious  in  character  or  in  effort.  It  gave  as  its 
reason  the  principle  that  it  was  considering  the  welfare 
of  the  pubUe  and  the  continuance  of  expert  knowledge 

28 


THE   TEACHING    PROCESSES 

in  the  high  favor  of  the  pubHc  rather  than  the  special 
"good"  of  its  students.  In  short,  it  raised  its  standard 
and  reduced  the  number  of  its  degree-holders,  thereby, 
of  course,  discouraging  many  ambitious  men  and  wom- 
en, but  protecting  the  public  from  the  deficiencies  of 
the  relatively  incompetent. 

The  course  of  study  of  a  primary  school  is  made  as  it 
is  mainly  to  help  the  children  forward,  to  educate  them. 
The  hundreds  of  electives  of  the  university  are  offered 
in  order  that  each  of  these  hundreds  of  bodies  of  knowl- 
edge may  endure  in  the  minds  of  at  least  a  few  men. 
AU  the  subjects  of  the  primary  school  are  offered  in 
order  to  help  the  boys  and  girls  to  succeed  in  life.  Very 
few  of  the  subjects  of  the  university  have  the  personal 
success  of  the  students  in  view.  Personal  ambition 
characterizes  the  younger  minds,  and  the  smaller  minds ; 
social  service,  art,  science,  order,  patriotism,  humanity 
characterize  the  older  and  the  larger  minds. 

The  teacher  who  knows  the  characteristics  of  pupils 
of  the  ages  represented  in  his  or  her  class  knows  to 
what  motives  to  make  his  or  her  appeal.  And  the  first 
principle  of  the  general  teaching  process  is  to  awaken 
effort,  to  stimulate  motivation  in  one  of  its  two  forms, 
intellectual  curiosity  (or  "interest")  in  the  case  of  a 
study  and  bodily  activity  in  the  case  of  an  exercise. 
Arousing  the  pupil's  own  endeavor  is  the  beginning  of 
teaching  a  lesson.  Until  such  endeavor  stirs  in  the 
soul  of  the  learner,  the  learning  process  does  not  be- 
gin. 

In  most  children  under  twelve  or  fourteen  years,  the 
one  generally  present  motive  is  to  know  or  to  be  able 
to  do  something  commonly  considered  important  in  the 
over-world  of  adults.    This  motive  is  not  always  present. 

29 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

Obviously,  in  the  motor  temperaments,  it  takes  the 
mode  of  intending  to  do  what  the  adult  can  do;  in  the 
vital  sedentary  temperament,  it  takes  the  mode  of  in- 
tending to  enjoy  the  affairs  of  life  about  as  the  adult 
enjoys  them;  in  the  speculative  sedentary  tempera- 
ment, it  takes  the  form  of  intending  to  know  what  the 
adult  knows. 

In  these  children  under  twelve  or  fourteen,  in  respect 
to  their  immediate  education,  sex  is  relatively  unim- 
portant; and  yet,  even  in  childhood,  the  boy  usually 
cares  most  for  the  things  that  interest  men,  and  th(> 
girl  for  the  things  of  domestic  life.  Such  interests,  how- 
ever, are  by  no  means  as  marked  as  they  become  after 
these  ages.  To  the  small  children,  the  ways  of  adults, 
their  actions  and  concerns  seem  so  great  and  remote 
and  compelling  that  distinctions  between  men  and 
women  are  without  interest. 

At  adolescence,  however,  especially  with  girls,  the 
forces  of  sex-heredity  set  in  with  vigor;  and  thereafter 
in  the  normal  instances,  to  know  what  men  know  and 
to  do  what  they  can  do  is  a  powerful  motive  with  boys; 
and  to  know  and  do  what  women  know  and  do,  with  girls. 
In  the  secondary  adolescence  of  young  manhood  and 
young  womanhood, — when  they  broaden  out  and  grow 
heavier, — this  motive  takes  on  specific  forms  or  follows 
specific  modes  according  to  the  individual  heroes  or 
heroines  or  other  ideal  persons  admired  by  the  young 
man  or  by  the  young  woman.  The  young  man  wishes 
to  be  a  chemist  like  So-and-so  or  a  surgeon  Hke  Some- 
one-else;  the  young  woman  has  plans  to  be  a  social 
leader  like  So-and-so  or  an  author  hke  her  favorite 
Some-one-else.  The  best  of  them  go  about  with  heads 
full  of  admiration  for  statesmen,  milhonaires,  lawyers, 

30 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

inventors;  or  for  matrons,  actresses^  artists ;  usually  liv- 
ing persons  of  present  great  reputation. 

Though  age  is  indeed  a  decisive  factor,  it  is  by  no 
means  determined  by  mere  count  of  years.  Persons  of 
the  vital,  corpulent  temperament  are  always  younger 
for  their  years  than  the  muscular  motor;  the  muscular 
motor  than  the  ideo-motor;  and  these  than  the  reflective- 
sedentary.^  In  fact,  age  is  largely  a  matter  of  foresight 
and  of  anxiety,  of  care  and  of  thoughtfulness.  There 
are  manly  boys  and  childish  men, — and  temperament  has 
much  to  do  with  both  kinds.  The  manly  boy  has  indeed 
something  fine  about  him;  though  perhaps  he  loses 
cliildhood  and  youth  by  it.  The  childish  man  is  saved 
thereby  much  trouble.  But  neither  type  is  normal  or 
average,  though  each  is  doubtless  useful,  if  not  for 
example  always,  at  least  for  warning. 

The  competent  teacher  who  has  been  reading  in  the 
book  of  himaan  nature  looks  for  age  at  physique  and  ex- 
pression and  conduct  rather  than  at  the  birth  certificate; 
and  does  not  try  to  anticipate  the  future  of  the  boy  or 
girl  but  to  take  each  as  he  or  she  is. 

With  endeavor  aroused  in  the  learner,  the  next  stage 
in  the  teaching  process  is  to  set  forth  new  facts  or  prin- 
ciples, not  too  many  or  too  much,  nor  yet  too  few  or  too 
little,  in  accordance  with  the  average  or  a  little  more 
than  the  average  of  the  needs,  the  powers,  and  the  in- 
terests of  the  learners.  To  put  the  principle  otherwise, 
in  presenting  the  need  it  is  better  to  err  on  the  side  of 
giving  too  much  than  of  giving  too  little.  To  give  too 
little  thwarts  the  best  elements  in  the  class, — the  bright, 
the  strong,  the  able.  It  is,  of  course,  a  sign  of  poor 
judgment  in  a  teacher  to  aim  at  interesting  only  the 

iSeepages220,  221. 
31 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

uppermost  third  or  fourth  or  tenth  in  the  class.  But 
when  in  a  general  way,  he  or  she  thinks  of  the  class  as 
in  four  ranks  of  almost  equal  nmnbers  and  aims  to  in- 
terest and  hold  the  second  rank,  the  teacher  has  done 
well.  In  so  ranking  a  class,  marks  are  of  but  little 
value;  for  the  reason  that  they  include  the  quantity  of 
achievement  through  a  period  of  time,  whereas  in  giving 
the  daily  instruction  in  a  subject,  the  teacher  should 
think  mainly  of  the  actual  working  power  of  the  pupils 
before  him.^  Another  way  of  properly  adjusting  the 
instruction  is  to  think  of  a  normal  boy  or  girl  of  just 
slightly  better  than  the  median  quality  in  the  class,  and 
then  setting  out  to  teach  all  the  class  in  such  a  way  as 
to  meet  his  needs,  and  varying  only  so  much  as  one 
must  in  order  not  entirely  to  miss  any  considerable 
number  of  the  others. 

In  shaping  the  instruction  at  this  point  to  fit  the 
learners,  free  questions  and  answers  between  the  teacher 
and  the  pupils  are  usually  helpful.  These,  however, 
must  not  proceed  to  the  extent  of  interrupting  the 
orderly  presentation  of  the  facts  or  principles  that  are 
to  be  taught. 

The  next  stage  in  the  general  teaching  process  is  to 
find  out,  in  the  way  appropriate  to  the  study  or  exercise 
and  to  the  especial  matter  in  hand,  whether  or  not  the 
learner  remembers  what  has  just  been  taught.  There 
are  many  devices  for  doing  this,— asking  for  a  direct  and 
complete  statement  in  topical  form  in  the  case,  for 
example,  of  an  informational  lesson,  and  requiring,  in 
the  case  of  an  exercise,  that  the  learner  should  proceed 
through  it  alone. 

Here  upon  the  occasion  of  defective  answers  by  a 

*See  page  211,  following^ 
32 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

considerable  niiniber  of  the  class,  the  teacher  has  a  fine 
opportunity  to  get  the  echo  of  his  or  her  own  work  and 
thereby  to  check  the  teaching.  It  is  evidence  that  the 
new  material  was  badly  presented  or  perhaps  was  im- 
properly chosen  when  many  learners  failed  to  under- 
stand the  lesson,  or  when  some  entirely  misunderstand 
it,  or  when,  as  sometimes  happens,  they  do  not  remem- 
ber it  at  all. 

In  such  cases,  it  is  sometimes  well  to  abandon,  for  the 
present,  that  ''lead"  and  to  proceed  in  some  other  di- 
rection. We  do  not  build  a  railroad  directly  in  a  bee 
line  through  a  mountain  chain,  but  we  sent  it  gradually 
up  through  tunnels,  by  bridges  across  chasms,  by  spirals 
along  the  mountain  sides,  circuitously  and  subterrane- 
ously,  knowing  that  "the  longest  way  around  is  often 
the  shortest  way  home."  Direct  telling  is  usually  poor 
teaching,  as  the  test  at  this  stage  often  shows  in  the 
case  of  young  or  incompetent  teachers.  Sometimes, 
at  this  stage,  all  that  is  necessary  is  a  little  more  ex- 
planation or  the  presentation  of  another  illustration, 
and  then  the  lesson  clears  up. 

Beyond  this  period  of  the  general  teaching  process  is 
the  reviewing,  the  testing,  the  drilling,  and  the  examin- 
ing, from  day  to  day,  later  until  the  matter  taught  has 
taken  its  place  as  a  part  of  the  assured  mental  equip- 
ment of  the  learner,  adding  either  to  his  skill  or  to  his 
power  to  interpret  or  perhaps  to  both.  What  shall  be 
done  in  the  way  of  repeating,  or  reviewing  in  larger 
relations,  of  testing  to  see  whether  the  matter  is 
well  and  firmly  placed  and  related,  and  of  drilling  for 
final  security  depends  mainly  upon  the  special  topic 
itself.  When  the  affair  is  a  multiplication  table,  this 
series  of  repetitions  is  prolonged  through  years.    Some- 

33 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

times,  it  is  a  concern  of  but  a  week  or  a  fortnight.  Tliere 
is  not  much  in  an  elementary  school  course  that  de- 
serves being  taught  at  all  that  does  not  require  at  least 
a  week's  consideration. 

But  the  discussion  of  what  shall  be  done  in  respect 
to  these  later  stages  of  the  general  teaching  process 
brings  the  investigator  clearly  to  the  point  of  inquiring 
as  to  the  special  teaching  processes  suitable  to  the  va- 
rious kinds  of  studies.  Tliis  is  the  other  element  in  the 
purpose  of  teacliing  that  must  be  regarded  even  in 
the  case  of  elementary  school  work  and  that  controls  in 
the  case  of  higher  education. 

The  de\dces  for  presenting  knowledge  to  learners,  and 
of  bringing  learners  into  the  presence  of  the  opportuni- 
ties to  learn  knowledge  are  many,  and  their  appropriate- 
ness in  respect  to  the  various  kinds  of  knowledge,  and  to 
the  various  stages  of  the  acquirement  of  the  knowledge 
depends  upon  some,  at  times,  not  easily  harmonized 
elements.  In  a  general  way,  we  may  say  that  teaching 
is  effected  successfully  in  the  recitation  class-room,  in 
the  lecture-hall,  in  the  library  through  the  consultation 
of  books,  in  the  laboratory,  and  upon  excursions  out- 
doors or  by  visits  to  museums,  only  when  four  elements 
are  properly  associated, — the  teacher,  the  learners,  the 
subject,  and  the  device.  To  illustrate  by  the  negative : — 
An  old  experienced  teacher  with  a  body  of  young  chil- 
dren is  not  likely  to  make  much  of  a  success  with  a 
science  lesson  in  a  laboratory.  Again: — A  young  inex- 
perienced teacher  is  not  likely  to  make  much  of  a  success 
with  a  body  of  mature  graduate  students  in  a  political 
science  lecture  in  a  university  lecture-hall.  Again: — 
Even  a  skilful  teacher,  forced  to  teach  physics  by  the 
recitation  method  in  a  class-room,  cannot  make  much  of 

34 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

a  success.  There  are  some  subjects  that  few  women 
can  teach  well  to  older  students, — for  example,  history, 
physics,  higher  mathematics,  art.  There  are  many  sub- 
jects that  few  men  can  teach  well  to  young  learners; 
indeed,  there  are  but  few  subjects  that  they  can  teach 
well  in  the  lower  schools. 

The  four  places  of  lesson-giving, — the  library  with  its 
seminar,  the  laboratory  with  its  experiment  tables,  the 
class-room  with  its  recitations,  and  the  lecture-hall, — 
afford  opportunities  for  some  six  chfferent  kinds  of  de- 
\aces  for  imparting  knowledge.  The  method  that  is  to 
be  followed  controls  the  devices  that  are  to  be  used  in 
accordance  with  it.  A  ''device"  is  a  division  of  the 
highway  or  method,  a  section  of  its  road.  It  is,  however, 
important  enough  to  merit  some  consideration  by  itself. 

A  traveller  plans  a  journey  from  New  York  to  St. 
Louis;  a  ticket  for  the  journey  by  train  is  one  of  his 
devices  for  getting  there.  He  gives  to  his  family,  or 
employer,  or  friends  some  reason  for  going, — that 
reason  or  excuse  is  a  device  for  getting  away  and  being 
absent  for  the  period  of  the  journey.  An  artist  conceives 
a  great  picture: — the  canvas,  the  paints,  the  brushes,  the 
studio,  the  preliminary  sketches,  the  consultations  with 
critical  friends,  the  placing  of  the  canvas  now  in  one 
light,  now  in  another,  the  potboilers  painted  or  drawn 
to  get  money  for  living  expenses,  while  the  great  picture 
is  on  the  easel,  are  all  devices  for  getting  the  picture  done 
well. 

These  words,  "method"  and  "device,"  should  be  used 
with  care.  A  recitation  is  only  a  device  for  teaching 
sometliing;  and  yet  the  recitation  itself  has  its  own  true 
method  and  its  own  devices  for  carrying  its  method  out. 
A  book  is  only  a  device  for  telling  something  that  the 

4  35 

V  ■ 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

author  regarded  as  important  enough  to  write  out,  and 
the  pubHsher  to  issue;  but  the  book  has  some  method 
in  it,  good  or  bad,  and  the  chapters  and  paragraphs,  in 
form  and  in  content,  are  the  devices  for  carrying  out  the 
method  of  the  book. 

When,  therefore,  one  speaks  of  the  ''recitation  meth- 
od," one  has  in  mind  so^jething  entirely  distinct  from 
the  method  of  a  subject,  such  as  grammar.  But  when 
one  speaks  of  "method"  in  itself,  the  reference  is  to  the 
general  theory  of  method  and  not  specifically  to  any  one 
subject  or  to  recitations  or  to  study  or  to  lessons  or  to 
anything  else. 

Between  method  and  process,  the  distinction  is  this, — 
''method"  means  "highroad,"  and  "process"  means 
"going  forward."  The  former  refers  primarily  to  the 
track,  the  latter  to  the  movement  along  the  track. 
Each  unplies  the  other. 

Of  the  teaching  processes,  for  a  period  of  several 
decades  in  Europe  and  America,  the  recitation  has  at- 
tracted the  most  attention  and  has  been  given  the  most 
consideration.  The  reason  therefor  is  that  the  recita- 
tion is  active  and  dynamic.  Directed  study  is  as  much 
a  teaching  process  as  is  the  recitation,  and  the  directed 
exercise  is  likewise.  We  lost  interest  in  the  latter  as 
we  converted  our  school  into  sedentarj,  bookish  enter- 
prises in  the  conviction  perhaps  that  to  understand  life 
is  more  important  than  to  act  in  it,  and  in  the  knowledge 
certainly  that  it  costs  less  to  maintain  schools  for  the 
study  of  books  than  for  the  acquirement  of  the  manual 
arts  and  of  the  technical  sciences.  The  tradition  grew 
up  that  the  teacher  is  a  talker  rather  than  an  exemplar 
and  guide.  At  any  rate,  in  every  science  and  art,  the 
critic,  the  novice,  the  narrator  and  talker  about  it  is 

36 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

much  cheaper  to  employ  than  the  skilled  performer.  It 
has  been  absolutely  necessary  to  the  development  of 
schools, — especially  of  public  schools  upon  tax-support, 
because  taxes  as  such  are  always  hateful, — to  keep  the 
costs  low.  Let  us  hope  that  this  period  of  failure  to 
understand  the  investment-values  of  the  public  school 
will  everywhere  at  some  time  pass  away.  It  has  already 
passed  away  in  some  sections  of  the  country.  But  let 
us  not  expect  that  the  investment-value  of  education 
will  soon  be  understood  and  admitted  as  true  every- 
where. 

The  oral  recitation  in  large  classes,  following  oral  in- 
struction, is  the  cheapest  known  way  of  imparting 
knowledge.     It  saves  even  the  cost  of  books. 

Of  the  oral  recitation,  there  is  one  standard  method 
often  applied  to  every  kind  of  subject.  It  has  what  are 
known  as  the  ''five  formal  steps."  These  formal  steps 
constitute  what  is  known  as  ''the  method  of  the  recita- 
tion." 

The  reason  for  the  vogue  of  this  system  is  that  this 
kind  of  recitation  is  indeed  admirably  calculated  for 
imparting  knowledge  in  a  certain  kind  of  subject. 
Though  by  no  means  universally  valid  and  helpful,  it  is 
necessary  in  tliis  kind  of  subject.  The  whole  situation 
by  which  "the  method  of  the  recitation,"  thus  formu- 
lated, has  come  to  be  applied  to  every  kind  of  subject, 
with  unfortunate  and  often  absurd  results,  is  but  one 
more  illustration  of  the  fatuity  with  which  mankind, 
finding  a  thing  "good  for  something,"  has  assimied  that 
it  is  good  for  everything.  Medicine  has  constantly  to 
fight  this  tendency.  Wlien  a  remedy  has  been  found 
specific  for  one  disease,  it  is  always  in  danger  of  being 

heralded  by  the  many  and  used  by  the  unscientific  for 

37 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

a  time  as  a  panacea  for  all  diseases.  This  tendency  is 
indeed  the  life  of  the  patent  medicine  trade.  Almost 
any  medicine  whether  simple  or  compounded  will  cure 
some  disease  in  some  person.    W  ''^ ''    \     ',   . 

The  formal  recitation  is  good  for  all  informational 
studies  in  the  first  presentation  of  new  topics.  We  may 
classify  the  subject  of  the  whole  educational  curriculum 
from  kindergarten  through  the  professional  school  into 
studies  and  exercises,  and  the  studies  may  again  be  di- 
vided into  logical  and  informational.  An  informational 
study  is  one  not  yet  organized  in  accordance  with  an 
inner  logic  that  so  controls  the  material  as  to  make  its 
presentation  in  a  certain  order  of  topics  necessary.  An 
informational  study  is  one,  then,  that  has  so  far  no  essen- 
tial method,  no  special  and  characteristic  process.  It 
may  be  a  subject  in  the  course  of  discovering  such  an 
inner  logic  with  a  typical  method  for  its  exposition.  In 
fact,  its  very  presence  in  the  school  curriculum  usually 
implies  that  it  is  seeking  scientific,  or  artistic,  or  philo- 
sophical forai;  but  the  informational  study  is  the  one 
that  has  not  yet  found  such  form.  Nature-study, 
geography,  history,  spelling,  and  literature  are,  in  this 
sense,  among  the  informational  studies.  Many  of  the 
school  and  college  subjects,  however,  are  in  one  sense 
studies  and  in  another  sense  exercises, — as  for  example, 
spelling,  reading,  English  and  other  languages.  Or  to 
put  the  principle  in  another  way, — in  some  respects, 
the  lessons  to  be  given  in  some  studies  should  conform 
to  the  principles  applicable  to  informational  studies,  in 
other  respects  to  the  principles  applicable  to  exercises. 
To  illustrate: — We  should  not  teach  in  the  same  way 
lx)th  an  oral  lesson  in  elocutionary  reading  and  an  oral 
lesson  in  the  development  of  the  content  of  that  reading. 

38 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

The  first  step  in  the  method  of  the  informational 
recitation  is  commonly  called  "the  preparation";  the 
second  step,  "the  presentation";  the  third  step,  "the 
association";  the  fourth  step,  "the  generalization," 
and  the  fifth  step  "the  application." 

In  the  first  step,  the  teacher  suggests  matters  that 
the  pupils  already  know,  arouses  in  some  way  of  appeal 
or  reference  to  fundamental  concerns  their  active  in- 
terest and  attention,  reviews  a  recent  theme,  or  other- 
wise tries  to  get  the  children  or  youth  into  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  subject.  Tliis  "preparation"  may  be  a 
brief  or  a  long  matter,  easy  and  quiet  or  hard  and  noisy. 
It  is  quite  useless  to  try  to  teach  the  class  until  they  are 
all  in  the  mood  of  active  attention.  Their  curiosity 
must  be  stimulated  else  they  will  not  try  to  learn.  The 
question  as  to  how  brief  or  how  energetic  this  prepara- 
tion is  to  be  depends  partly  upon  the  kind  of  class  that 
the  teacher  has.  Good  classes  are  usually  attentive. 
In  some  poor  classes,  the  effort  to  get  the  active  atten- 
tion of  all  is  certain  to  fail:  to  the  extent  of  its  failure, 
this  step  in  the  lesson  is  a  failure. 

This  step  is  so  important  that  two  thousand  years 
ago,  Cicero,  the  Roman  orator,  dwelt  upon  it  at  length 
as  a  test  of  the  skill  of  the  man  before  the  forum  in 
addressing  his  audience.  Indeed,  our  recitation  theory 
is  little  more  than  an  expansion  of  his  plan  for  the 
oration.* 

It  is  the  step  in  which  the  known  is  brought  before 
the  consciousness  of  the  learner  to  help  liim  hook  upon 
it  the  new  unknown  that  is  to  come. 

Illustration: — ^Topic    for   the    proposed   lesson.    The 

^On  the  Orator,  §  xxii,  "before  we  enter  upon  the  main  subject, 
the  minds  of  the  audience  should  be  conciliated  by  an  exordium." 

39 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

Battle  of  Gettysburg.  Preparation:  Some  other  battle 
that  the  children  already  have  studied.  Eai'lier  move- 
ments of  the  armies  upon  each  side  that  the  pupils 
already  know.  Hills  and  low  mountains  that  they 
have  seen  or  at  least  have  read  about  hitherto. 
Great  crowds  or  other  assemblages  such  as  the  learners 
have  either  seen  in  reality  or  in  pictures.  Gunpowder 
explosions.  Noise.  Bravery  and  heroism. — Not  all 
tliese  points  are  necessary.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  enough, 
or  to  ask  the  learners  to  tell  enough,  to  make  them 
anxious  to  know  more. 

Sometimes  to  this  step  is  added  a  so-called  "sub- 
step"  known  as  ''the  aim."  Here  the  teacher  tells 
briefly  what  the  aim  or  purpose  of  the  lesson  is. 

The  second  step  is  the  presentation  of  the  new  ma- 
terial. At  this  point  often  arises  the  error  of  the  teacher 
who  assigns  the  lesson  in  the  text-book  to  be  studied 
before  giving  an  oral  lesson  or  holding  a  recitation  upon 
it.  To  expect  a  class  whose  members  have  already  read 
all  the  text-book  account  to  listen  to  a  presentation  of 
the  same  material  upon  the  plea  that  it  is  new  and 
therefore  answers  their  curiosity  is  common  enough,  but 
it  is  in  direct  opposition  to  the  very  theory  of  this  kind 
of  recitation. 

The  reason  why  this  error  is  so  frequently  made  by 
teachers  trained  in  normal  schools  is  because  their  train- 
ing is  usually  designed  to  fit  them  for  the  lower  grades 
where  few  books  are  used  and  they  are  not  warned  that 
the  very  use  of  books  to  study  a  new  body  of  material 
makes  this  kind  of  recitation  inappropriate.  In  ele- 
mentary grades,  books  are  for  study-reviews. 

But  assuming  that  the  material  is  really  new,  the 
business  of  the  teacher  is  to  tell  it  with  a  due  emphasis 

40 


THE    TEACHING    PROCESSES 

of  the  salient  points  and  with  such  questions  at  times  to 
members  of  the  class  as  assure  him  that  most  of  them 
are  actually  following  the  narrative  or  exposition.  This 
may  commonly  be  made  the  longest  single  section  of 
the  entire  recitation  or  lesson. 

Presentation: — Numbers  of  men  on  each  side,  with 
names  of  some  of  the  leaders  and  heroes.  The  topo- 
graphical facts.  The  first  day's  combat.  The  second 
day's.  The  third  day's.  Pickett's  charge.  The  defeat. 
The  results  on  the  battle-field.  The  results  in  national 
history.  The  disappointment  of  the  Confederates.  The 
elation  of  the  Federals. 

Gettysburg,  though  not  the  greatest,  one  of  the  critical 
battles  of  the  war.  Meaning  of  a  crisis,  and  explanation 
of  the  situation. 

In  the  third  stage  of  the  recitation,  the  teacher  makes 
comparisons,  of  the  subject  matter  of  the  lesson  with 
other  simill^or  dissimilar  matters,  and  suggests  a  few 
pertinenti;«%uths  drawn  from  the  facts.  This  step 
emphasizes  the  lesson  by  pointing  out  its  meaning. 
Usuallyj  there  is  but  little  delay  at  this  point. 

Th^'foufth  step  offers  the  generalization.  It  is  often 
bulBa  summary  in  a  sentence  or  so  of  the  previous  steps. 
In  some  accounts  of  this  method  of  the  recitation,  it  is 
treated  as  part  of  the  third  step. 

Generalization: — ^A  great  battle  in  a  great  war  tests 
the  strength  of  the  civilization  and  population  upon 
each  side.  The  Union  army  won  because  it  had  the 
better  position  and  more  soldiers,  and  because  the 
Confederates  erred,  therefore,  in  attacking  them  at 
this  time  and  place.  With  no  greater  natural  re- 
sources, the  free-labor  States  had  so  outpointed  the 
slave-labor  States  in  wealth  and  in  population  as  to 

41 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

be  able  to  put  and  support  more  soldiers  in  the  field, 
etc.,  etc. 

The  last  step  is  or  is  not  important  or  long  in  the 
making,  according  to  the  matter  in  hand.  In  it,  the 
teacher  applies  the  conclusion  to  practical  matters. 
Tliis  application  must  seem  to  issue  from  the  very  proc- 
ess and  to  be  not  only  logical  but  moral  and  ob- 
vious. 

Application: — Sometimes,  the  crisis  comes  early  and 
sometimes  late  in  a  series  of  events.  Sometimes,  it  con- 
stitutes a  climax  after  which  one  set  of  forces  collapses. 
Sometimes,  as  in  tliis  case  of  Gettysburg,  even  after  the 
crisis,  the  overthrow  is  long  in  coming,  though  scarcely 
avoidable.  Indeed,  no  feature  of  the  Civil  War  is  more 
astonisliing  than  the  long  and  valiant  struggle  of  the 
Confederacy  after  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg,  when  the 
handwriting   of    fate    appeared   so    plaioi^  upon  the 

wall.  m 

In  this  illustrative  review  of  what  might  li^done  by 
the  formal  method  in  a  treatment  of  this  eveni,  many 
points  have  been  omitted.  The  teacher  c^j^^iave 
compared  Gettysburg  for  likeness  and  unl^HiS^»ith 
Yorktown  or  Saratoga  as  a  critical  affair  in  a  war.^^ 

It  is  usually  difficult  to  carry  out  the  five  steps  of  the 
lesson  as  thus  outlined  in  the  limited  space  of  time  re- 
quired by  the  crowding  of  so  many  subjects  into  the 
elementary  school  curriculum  and  by  the  fatigue  lim- 
its of  children.  Such  a  lesson  should  not  be  over 
thirty -five  minutes  in  length,  and  twenty -five  is  a 
wiser  term,  even  in  the  last  years  of  the  elementary 
school. 

It  is  evident  that  such  a  treatment  as  that  just  pre- 
sented is  an  illustration  of  the  inductive  method  of 

42 


THE   TEACHING    PROCESSES 

teaching.  It  presents  facts  and  then  draws  conclu- 
sions/ 

The  opposite  or  deductive  method  has  its  formal  steps 
likewise.  But  curiously  enough,  there  are  no  books  and 
but  few  essays  or  articles  that  deal  with  it,  though  his- 
torically it  is  much  the  older  method  and  comparatively 
far  more  often  employed. 

The  first  of  the  formal  steps  of  the  deductive  recita- 
tion or  lesson  is  the  presentation  of  the  new  problem 
to  be  solved,  the  question  to  be  answered,  or  the  ex- 
ample to  be  known.  This  direct  offering  of  new  matter 
is  assumed  to  arouse  curiosity  and  effort,  without  any 
preliminary  stirring  up  of  motivation  by  formal  appeal 
to  old  interests. 

The  second  stage  is  not  the  presentation  of  some  new 
facts  but  the  offering  of  some  general  truth  that  must 
be  learned  a^^  truth  and  is  then  available  for  use  as 
a  rule  or  1|^^  Upon  the  suggestion  that  this  is  the 
fourth  or  aJneralization  stage  of  the  other  kind  of  les- 
son, it  b^mes  apparent  that  this  deductive  lesson  is 
applic^^^^  to  informational  but  to  logical  studies. 
In  th^Bmumve  lesson,  one  jumps  upon  the  shoulders 
of  dfe's  ancestors  and  sees  from  that  higher  view- 
point. 

Illustration: — Six  Per  Cent.  Method  in  Arithmetic 
to  compute  all  varieties  of  interest.  Presentation:  A 
loans  B  $100  for  60  days  at  six  per  cent.  How  much  is 
due  when  the  loan  matures? 

Statement  of  the  rule.  Interest  as  a  form  of  per- 
centage. \\Tiat  six  per  cent,  means  per  day  on  the 
365-day  basis.     Its  meaning  on  a  360-day  basis.     The 

'  For  illustrations  of  the  various  kinds  of  lessons,  see  Appendix 
V,  pages  312-321. 

43 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

slight  advantage  to  bankers.  The  table  taught, — for 
year,  for  60  days,  for  6  days.  Computing  four  per  cent., 
seven  per  cent.,  etc. 

The  third  stage  is  the  solution  of  the  problem.  The 
fourth  stage  is  drill  upon  many  problems. 

To  put  the  matter  more  simply.  The  deductive  les- 
son has  four  steps, — the  case  in  hand,  the  generalization, 
the  application,  and  drill.  Though  apparently  much 
easier  because  offering  less  steps  than  the  inductive  les- 
son, it  is  in  reality,  in  most  instances,  a  more  difficult 
method  when  adequately  and  successfully  followed. 
To  teach  the  rule,  or  the  generalization,  as  a  truth  of 
authority,  requires  an  appeal  to  the  memory  and  to  the 
understanding  at  once,  without  the  aid  of  the  details 
that  lend  interest  to  the  inductive  lesson. 

But  it  is  quite  obvious  that  were  all  subjects  in  the 
curriculum  to  be  taught  with  literal  comijliance  to  the 
inductive  principle,  time  would  not  suffiqfe^to  cover  the 
ground.  We  must  of  necessity  give  ma^  deductive, 
lessons.  Even  in  the  informational  subjects,  some  topics 
must  be  studied  deductively.  Such  a  document  as  the 
United  States  Constitution  does  not  properly  (iime  up 
for  any  inductive  study  until  the  later  years  of  the 
higher  education.  On  the  other  hand,  in  some  of  the 
deductive  subjects  of  a  logical  nature,  there  are  topics 
that  may  be  taken  up  inductively  as  lesson  material. 
Observational  geometry  is  an  effort  to  convert  the  logical 
study  of  geometry  into  an  inductive  school  subject; 
and  it  appears  certain  that  for  original  problems  even 
in  geometry,  and  for  other  problems  also,  the  inductive 
is  the  true  method. 

A  third  kind  of  recitation  is  the  so-called  "question- 
and-answer"  or  "heuristic"  recitation. 

44 


11 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

This  kind  of  recitation  assumes  that  before  it  there 
has  been  either  a  series  of  other  kinds  of  recitations  by 
which  the  pupUs  have  accumulated  information,  or  else 
that  there  has  been  a  study  lesson  by  way  of  prepara- 
tion for  the  quizzing/ 

The  "question-and-answer"  recitation  is  sometimes 
called  "Socratic"  from  the  fact  that  the  ancient  pliilos- 
opher  Socrates  employed  questions  so  freely  in  his 
efforts  to  convince  the  Athenians  from  their  own  mouths 
that  they  did  not  know  much.  A  simple,  straight- 
forward, methodical  series  of  questions  and  answers 
serves  well  for  reviews  and  oral  tests.  Among  the  prin- 
ciples governing  the  heuristic  lesson  and  constituting  its 
processes  are  the  following, — viz.: 

1.  Open  into  the  subject  with  questions  that  have  the 
goal  in  view.  To  this  affirmative  principle,  there  is  a  nega- 
tive correlate.  Do  not  begin  with  questions  upon  topics 
well  forward  or  otherwise  within  the  subject.  In  other 
words,  start  with  causes ;  or  with  the  topics  earliest  in  time ; 
or  with  those  nearest  home.  ("Home"  is  an  atmosphere 
due  to  familiarity  and  interest.)  And  yet  do  not  begin 
with  narrow  questions  but  with  those  that  have  direction 
and  point  so  as  to  help  the  pupil  to  get  his  bearings. 

2.  Proceed  with  questions  that  apportion  the  time  duly 
as  between  the  topics,  emphasizing  those  of  importance, 
minimizing  the  relatively  unimportant.  This  principle  also 
has  its  negative  correlates.  We  should  not  delay  too  long 
upon  any  points.     We  should  skip  no  essential  points. 

3.  Let  the  questions  follow  in  logical  order.     This  may  be 

'  The  heuristic  method  is  employed  not  only  in  elementary  reci- 
tations for  reviewing  study  lessons  but  also  in  higher  education  for 
the  discovery  of  new  truth  by  the  free  interplay  of  the  minds  of 
teacher  and  students.     The  two  uses  should  not  be  confused. 

45 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

the  order  of  sequence  in  time  or  of  nearness  in  space  or  of 
cause-and-effect  or  of  any  other  normal  association  of  ideas. 
The  correlate  of  this  is: — Do  not  digress  from  the  main  line 
of  the  review. 

4.  Move  forward.  Do  not  circle  about  any  topic.  Do 
not  revive  a  topic  already  passed — unless  to  use  it  in  another 
important  connection.  (Failure  to  observe  this  principle 
has  ruined  many  books,  many  sermons,  many  recitations.) 

5.  Approach  the  concluding  topics  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  prepare  for  the  ending.  The  negative  correlate  of  this 
principle  is: — Avoid  an  anti-climax.  The  last  questions 
may  be  upon  the  plateau  of  the  conclusion,  but  they  should 
not  be  so  high  up  that  the  conclusion  itself  is  a  descent. 
The  questions  toward  the  end  should  develop  that  end 
properly. 

6.  End  with  questions  that  develop  the  conclusion  fully; 
and  stop.  There  is  much  in  knowing  when  and  how  to 
stop  so  as  to  make  the  final  impression  clear  and  strong. 

7.  Throughout  this  recitation  assume  that  familiar  points, 
once  properly  set  forth,  do  not  need  longer  consideration 
lest  the  pupils  be  wearied.  This  applies  even  to  the  begin- 
ning items,  to  critical  ones  in  the  course  of  the  discussion, 
and  to  the  conclusion  itself. 

The  order  of  progress  in  this  question-and-answer 
recitation  may  be  set  forth  in  the  simile  of  a  railroad 
trip — viz.: 

1.  Direction — start  to  finish. 

2.  Rate — due  apportionment  of  time. 

3.  Stations — the  essential  topics. 

4.  Sections — the  relations  (logic)  of  the  topics. 

5.  Regulation  of  the  speed. 

6.  Approach  to  the  destination. 

7.  Arrival. 

46 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

In  all  recitations  involving  questions  and  answers 
passing  between  teacher  and  class,  there  are  some  prin- 
ciples that  eliminate  certain  kinds  of  questions. 

These  principles  are  usually  to  be  observed — viz.: 

Tlie  question  should  not  suggest  or  indicate  the  answer. 

It  should  not  be  a  question  adequately  answered  by 
either  a  "Yes"  or  a  "No." 

It  should  not  be  such  a  question  as  may  be  answered  by 
a  single  word. 

It  should  not  be  long  or  involved. 

It  should  not  be  obscure  in  its  meaning. 

It  should  not  call  for  a  cut-and-dried  answer. 

It  should  not  permit  a  vague  answer. 

It  should  not  be  ambiguous  or  permit  an  ambiguous 
answer. 

Of  the  study  lesson,  much  has  recently  been  written, 
and  there  is  much  yet  to  write.  The  study  lesson  should 
conform  to  the  learning  process.  It  affords  materials 
for  the  learner  to  take  on  as  load  in  the  process  along 
the  method.  Books  have  so  long  been  the  common 
reliance  of  scholars  and  are  used  ever  more  and  more, 
and  lower  and  lower  down  in  the  grades  that  how  to 
direct  the  study  of  books  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
teacher's  preparation  even  for  primary  work.  The  as- 
sistance that  the  book  gives  to  the  pupil  with  mental 
gifts  is  so  great  as  to  enable  him  to  short-circuit  the 
elementary  school  curriculum.  It  does  not,  however, 
follow  that  he  should  therefore  be  turned  over  wholly 
to  books.  It  may  be  that  his  mental  gifts  are  likely  to 
impoverish  his  power  to  do,  and  to  enfeeble  his  zest  in 
'  life.  "Mental  gifts"  may  indeed  be  only  a  euphemistic 
Wind  for  a  sedentary  disposition. 

47 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

Most  important  in  the  study  lesson  is  that  the  book  or 
text  to  be  studied  should  be  accurate  in  content,  of  the 
right  tone  in  spirit,  and  of  a  good  style.  For  young 
children  to  study  notes  taken  down  by  themselves  from 
the  teacher's  dictation  or  copied  from  the  blackboard 
is  almost  to  insure  their  learning  words  incorrectly 
spelled,  sentences  incorrectly  formed,  ideas  inadequately 
presented,  and  a  content  more  or  less  erroneous. 

Assuming,  however,  that  the  material  in  the  book  to 
be  studied  is  good,  next  in  importance  is  the  approach 
by  the  learner  to  it.  This  approach  is  to  be  directed  by 
the  teacher,  who  should  give  such  a  lesson  upon  the 
subject  taught  in  the  book  as  the  special  topic  under 
treatment  requires.  Simply  telling  the  learners  what 
the  text  contains  is  not  enough. 

The  reasons  for  this  necessity  of  adequately  preparing 
the  attention  of  the  learner  for  his  study  of  a  text  are 
two.  One  is  inherent  in  the  constitution  of  our  nature. 
For  the  purposes  of  learning,  it  is  needful  to  remember 
that  men  are  usually  ear-minded  and  not  eye-minded. 
Even  now,  after  some  centuries  of  literacy,  nearly  all 
persons  recall  much  more  fully  and  accurately  what  they 
hear  than  what  they  read.  Words  mean  far  more  to 
most  persons  when  spoken  than  when  written  or  printed. 
If  this  were  not  so,  the  customs  of  all  the  social  institu- 
tions would  long  since  have  been  revolutionized.  Preach- 
ing would  be  at  an  end,  teaching,  canvassing  by  sales 
agents,  conferences  between  men,  and  oratory;  and  the 
use  of  the  telephone  would  never  have  grown  beyond 
that  of  the  telegraph. 

Reading  the  printed  or  written  word  doubtless  has 
some  advantages  over  speech  and  hearing.  Oral  speech 
is  like  a  moving  thread  or  a  flowing  stream.     We  must 

48 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

get  it  when  it  passes,  or  we  never  know  it.  Written 
language  is  like  a  plane  fixed  in  space.  Wlien  we  wish 
to  do  so,  we  can  review  it.  Written  language  is  like 
the  past,  always  adamant.  Oral  speech  is  like  a  flower 
that  fades. 

W^e  may  go  over  and  over  the  printed  page  until  we 
master  it.  The  page  is  there  to  stay  as  long  as  its 
paper  and  ink  endure,  and  as  men  remember  its  kind  of 
symbols  for  thought.  Even  the  recollection  of  speech 
is  tricky,  and  takes  on  strange  varieties  of  words  and  of 
meanings. 

By  both  hearing  a  matter  and  reading  of  it,  one  cross- 
sections  it,  and  thereby  gets  it  in  the  solid  of  three  di- 
mensions. But  the  hearing  of  it  from  the  lips  of  a 
competent  guide  is  the  true  introduction. 

Therefore,  prior  to  setting  the  learners  to  the  study 
of  the  printed  page,  the  teacher  should  outline  the  topic 
and  explain  where  the  important  points  are.  This 
should  be  done  the  more  thoroughly  according  as  the 
subject  is  new  or  difficult  or  long,  and  as  the  pupils  are 
young  and  ignorant  of  it  and  the  allied  facts  and  prin- 
ciples. 

The  learners  do  not  know  how  to  study.  If  they  did, 
they  would  scarcely  need  to  go  to  school.  No  business 
of  a  school  is  more  important  than  this  of  teaching  the 
young  and  the  ignorant  how  to  study.  In  one  aspect, 
a  man  may  be  considered  educated  when,  and  not  be- 
fore, he  knows  how  to  study  by  himself,  keeping  the 
main  trail, — following,  despite  temptations  and  would- 
be  insistent  day-dreams,  some  approved  method. 

Learning  how  to  study  means  inhibiting  the  vagaries 

of  attention  and  reflection, — in  popular  language,  shut- 

.  ting  out  wayward  thoughts, — and  keeping  resolutely  in 

49 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

consideration  the  topic  intended.  To  do  this  is  a 
triumph  of  will  over  the  natui'ally  dissipated  interests 
and  tendencies  of  the  mind.  Some  individuals  can  never 
learn  how  to  study,  some  learn  only  with  difficulty,  and 
through  the  course  of  many  years,  some  learn  by  the 
time  they  are  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  and  some  are 
natural  students,  born  such  by  temperament. 

After  telling  the  students  what  to  study,  the  work  of 
the  teacher  is  not  over.  It  is  necessary  to  follow  them 
one  by  one  and  to  see  that  they  are  actually  studying. 
To  "study"  is  literally  to  ''agonize"  over,  to  work  upon, 
to  be  anxious  about. 

To  say  that  there  is  too  much  or  to  say  that  there  is 
too  little  study  in  American  schools  generally  is  a  rather 
unsafe  generalization.  Perhaps  it  is  true  that  there  is 
rather  too  much  home  study  required  in  our  elementary 
and  high  schools;  but  that  there  is  too  little  time  ar- 
ranged, in  the  school  programs,  when  at  school,  for 
the  learners  to  study  under  direction,  is  perhaps  a  safe 
generalization.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  there  is  alto- 
gether too  much  undirected  study,  and  somewhat  too 
much  of  misdirected  study.  Here  the  failures  are  of 
individual  teachers  in  respect  to  their  own  subjects  and 
grades  and  in  respect  to  their  individual  pupils.  Side 
by  side  with  the  teacher  who  does  guide  his  or  her 
pupils  in  their  study  lessons  will  be  another  who  does 
not. 

For  the  study  of  the  printed  page,  these  principles 
should  be  inculcated.  Some  of  them  are  too  difficult 
for  the  smaller  pupils  of  elementary  schools;  but  all  of 
them  are  important  in  the  practice  of  the  teachers  of 
all  schools  in  their  own  study  and  are  available  for  in- 
culcation in  the  higher  grades  of  education,  viz.: 

50 


THE   TEACHING    PROCESSES 

1.  Read  the  passage  and  get  its  general  meaning. 

2.  Read  it  again  and  get  its  exact  meaning. 

3.  Analyze  it  in  detail. 

4.  Go  over  all  doubtful  words  and  phrases  (with  the 
dictionary,  usually). 

5.  Add  from  one's  own  experience,  or  from  a  'priori 
opinion,  whatever  seems  to  illuminate  the  meaning. 

6.  Read  the  context  before  and  after  the  passage.  This 
gives  orientation. 

7.  Get  the  argument  or  thought  as  apart  from  the  words 
and  sentences.     "Think  it  over." 

8.  Read  between  the  lines.  Perhaps  or  probably,  there 
was  much  in  the  author's  mind  that  he  had  neither  time  nor 
space  to  say.     He  expected  his  readers  to  supply  this. 

9.  Now  attack  or  defend  the  positions  asserted  in  the 
passage. 

10.  When  the  passage  is  good  enough,  learn  it  for  ac- 
curate recall.  Now,  and  not  before,  verbatim  memorizing 
may  be  permitted. 

11.  Locate  the  subject  in  one's  own  body  of  principles 
and  form  convictions  about  it. 

12.  Express  the  thought  in  one's  own  language  and  with 
one's  own  illustrations. 

In  this  comiection,  it  is  highly  profitable  to  note  that 
some  studies  require  much  more  class-exposition  and 
much  less  desk  study  than  do  others,  and  vice  versa. 
Any  practice  of  allowing  equal  amounts  of  time  for  desk 
study  (or  for  home  study)  and  for  recitation  in  each 
subject  each  day  is  unwarranted  by  educational  theory. 
In  general,  the  studies  requiring  deductive  lessons  re- 
quire also  more  desk  and  home  study  than  do  the  in- 
ductive studies,  but  there  are  exceptions  to  this  general 
proposition.     The  reason  is  that  the  logical  subject  with 

=  51 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

its  deductive  lesson  represents,  in  condensed  and  often 
abstract  form,  the  knowledge  and  experience  or  wisdom 
of  many  minds  not  verified  as  yet  in  the  personal  experi- 
ence or  coming  witliin  the  personal  knowledge  of  the 
learner,  while  the  inductive  lesson  is  an  attempt  to  bring 
facts  and  truths  within  the  immediate  experience  of  the 
learner,  or  in  some  fields  to  draw  these  facts  and  truths, 
as  it  were,  out  from  the  experience  of  the  learner. 

The  subjects  of  school  and  college  are  classified  rough- 
ly as  studies  and  as  exercises.  For  the  logical  studies, 
the  deductive  lesson  with  its  four  steps  constitutes  the 
true  teaching  method,  wliile  for  the  informational  study 
the  inductive  lesson  with  its  "five  formal  steps"  is  the 
desideratum/  The  question-and-answer  recitation  serves 
well  for  the  reviews  in  all  studies,  and  the  study  lesson 
"in  the  book"  is  calculated  to  reenforce  all  kinds  of  oral 
lessons.  We  have,  therefore,  remaining  for  considera- 
tion the  best  kinds  of  lessons  for  the  exercises  of  the 
curriculum. 

The  subjects  commonly  classed  as  "exercises"  may 
be  subdi\dded  into  those  wliich  are  primarily  psychical 
and  those  which  are  primarily  physical,  for  all  are 
physiopsychical  (or  psychophysical).^  In  the  exercises, 
the  parallelism  of  soul  and  body  constantly  forces  it- 
self upon  the  attention  of  the  observer.  What  this  con- 
current stream  of  psychic  life  and  of  physical  is,  no  man 
yet  knows;  and  there  is  no  slightest  indication  that  the 
race  is  getting  any  nearer  the  truth  for  all  its  searchings 
as  the  years  and  the  generations  pass  by. 

'  The  deductive  lesson  is  analytic  in  its  nature;  the  inductive  is 
synthetic.  Studies  and  exercises  are  sometimes  classified  as  sub- 
jective and  objective.  AE  school  subjects,  however,  are  mainly 
objective.  ^  See  page  45,  above. 

52 


THE   TEACHING    PROCESSES 

In  these  exercises,  there  are  no  recitations.  A  ''reci- 
tation" is  a  "calling  back."  A  teacher  may  properly 
be  said  to  '' hear"  a  recitation.  But  in  the  exercise  there 
is  no  calling  back.  The  exercise  is  an  individual  per- 
formance of  the  learner,  more  or  less  in  accordance 
with  the  instructions  of  his  teacher,  but  necessarily 
bearing  the  sole  stamp  of  liis  own  individual  powers 
and  character.  In  the  recitation,  the  teacher  is  the 
interpreter  of  certain  subject-matter.  In  the  exercise, 
the  pupil  is  the  interpreter. 

There  may  indeed  be  exercises  in  connection  with 
even  the  most  closely  reasoned  of  the  logical  studies, 
and  many  are  required  in  the  case  of  inductive  in- 
formational studies.  But  in  the  subjects  that  are 
classed  as  exercises  all  the  progress  consists  in  doing. 

The  psychical  exercises  have  one  lesson  method,  and 
the  physical  exercises  another  that  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent. In  this  respect,  however,  they  differ  less  than 
do  logical  and  informational  studies. 

The  point  may  be  best  seen  in  the  concrete,  which 
is  a  quality  that  characterizes  all  exercises.  Music  and 
drawing  are  primarOy  psychical  exercises.  Before  one 
can  di'aw,  one  must  have  some  vision  of  things  not  yet 
represented.  Before  one  can  make  any  kind  of  music, 
the  tmie  must  be  ringing  in  the  soul.  And  yet,  both 
picture  and  song,  in  order  to  be  known  at  all  to  others, 
must  be  realized  in  a  thing  visible  or  audible.  Manual 
training  and  physical  culture  are  mainly  affairs  of  the 
physical  organism,  in  which  the  psychical  element  is  of 
less  importance  than  in  the  cases  of  music  and  painting. 

A  true  lesson  in  music  is  an  exemplification  by  a  real 
musician  of  what  the  learner  is  to  emulate,  together 
mth  an  explanation  of  the  process  in  detail.    To  give 

53 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

a  good  music  lesson  is  to  do  the  exercise  oneself  well 
for  the  learner.  There  is  no  way  to  tell  about  it.  He 
must  hear  the  music.  Of  course,  merely  giving  the 
exercise  well  is  not  enough.  Then  follow  the  expla- 
nation of  the  exercise  and  the  trial  of  the  learner 
in  it. 

In  teaching  a  study,  the  person  who  knows  the  topic 
may  tell  something  to-day  and  more  to-morrow  and  so 
gradually  build  up  a  body  of  knowledge  in  the  mind  of 
the  learner.  The  first  account  is  but  a  skeleton  of  the 
final  knowledge.  It  may  not  be  even  that;  it  may  be 
but  a  little  anteroom  in  the  house  when  it  is  finished;  it 
may  be  even  less, — nothing  but  scaffolding  to  come  down 
when  the  structure  is  reared. 

But  in  the  drawing  or  music  or  other  psychical  exer- 
cise, what  is  done  is  permanent.  Learning  false  notes  or 
false  harmonies  at  the  beginning  is  a  very  serious  mat- 
ter. They  are,  in  a  sense,  built  into  the  learner's  organ- 
ism. It  is  undesirable  to  have  a  teacher  who  does  not 
teach  the  facts  of  history  correctly,  but  the  errors  are 
remediable  later.  It  is  necessary  that  the  teacher  of  a 
psychical  exercise  teach  correctly,  else  the  subject  is 
wholly  wrong.  The  book  serves  partly  to  rectify  the 
errors  of  a  history  lesson  by  the  study  review,  but 
there  is  no  way  to  rectify  the  error  of,  the  teacher  who 
trains  the  pupils  to  a  false  time  motion  in  music  or  to 
a  false  perspective  in  drawing. 

The  steps  in  a  lesson  in  a  psychical  exercise  are  an 
exemplification  by  the  teacher  of  the  new  thing  to  be 
learned,  its  explanation  in  detail,  its  trial  by  the  class, 
the  corrections  by  the  teacher,  new  trials,  corrections, 
ad  infinitum  until  by  drill  the  learners  are  perfect.  The 
subject   is  then  incorporated  in  the  makeup  of  the 

54 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

learner.  It  becomes  to  him  power  and  skill  for  doing 
the  next  thing,  a  part  of  himself. 

When  ideas  are  coalsesced  in  the  mind  and  become 
part  of  the  mind,  the  power  to  learn  the  next  thing  is 
increased.  So  the  exercise  well  learned  adds  to  the 
being  of  the  exerciser.  Each  new  song  comes  a  little 
easier.  Each  new  theme  for  painting  well  worked  out 
makes  the  next  simpler.  After  a  while,  the  songster 
comes  to  know  music,  and  the  painter  to  be  a  picture- 
maker,  an  artist  in  form  and  color. 

But  the  teaching  of  an  exercise  that  is  primarily 
physical  is  easier,  and  the  learning  of  it  also.  The  model 
lesson  must  still  be  given,  but  the  explanation  may  often 
be  entirely  omitted  and  direct  imitation  required.  As 
soon  as  the  exercise  is  known,  it  may  be  called  for  by 
order  and  commands.  We  cannot  order  a  child  to 
make  a  painting  on  demand,  but  we  may  order  him  to 
go  through  a  calisthenic  drill  on  command.  In  fact, 
implicit  obedience  and  exact  performance  are  among 
the  most  important  educational  ends  to  be  served  by 
the  teaching  of  physical  exercises.  Thereby,  the  body 
is  trained  promptly  to  obey  the  will. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  of  considering  the 
method  of  the  laboratory,  of  the  lecture,  of  the  seminar 
and  of  the  library.  In  the  laboratory,  one  pursues 
scientific  truth  by  the  process  of  observation,  experi- 
ment, trial-and-error,  generalization,  verification  and 
conclusion.  This  is  the  inductive  method  in  its  pure 
and  simple  form,  even  simpler  than  that  of  the  induc- 
tive recitation.  A  laboratory  lesson  is  indeed  an  in- 
ductive recitation  in  which  every  pupil  is  instructed  by 
himself,  and  for  the  time  being  the  class  does  not  exist. 

The  lecture  is  anything  whatever  that  suits  the  special 

55 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

needs,  at  the  time,  of  the  lecturer  as  a  teacher  or  teller 
of  the  facts  and  principles  that  he  wishes  to  expound. 
It  may  be  pure  narrative,  such  as  belongs  in  the  presen- 
tation stage  of  an  inductive  lesson.  It  may  be  a  body 
of  applications.  It  may  be  an  exposition  of  some  gen- 
eral truth  as  in  the  second  stage  of  the  deductive  lesson. 
The  lecture  as  a  teaching  device  makes  an  excellent 
summary  for  reviews  in  some  kinds  of  subjects  in  the 
secondary  school,  and  is  the  typical  mode  for  the  uni- 
versity. But  the  lectm-e  itself  has  no  typical  mode. 
The  oration  is  supposed  to  have  its  standard  form  from 
introduction  to  peroration,  but  not  so  with  the  lecture, 
whose  content  and  special  purpose  entirely  control  its 
form.  It  comes  under  the  head  not  of  pedagogy,  nor 
of  oratory,  but  of  literature  in  its  broadest  sense. 

The  lecture  should  have  some  inner  logic  due  to  its  pur- 
pose and  subject  and  should  be  properly  proportioned 
for  the  occasion.  It  should  aim  to  create  in  the  listener 
the  same  mood  as  that  of  the  lecturer.  The  lecture  is  a 
poor  instrument  whereby  to  convey  facts.  The  printed 
page  is  far  better.  The  recitation  is  best  of  all.  A  good 
lecture  is  an  exposition  of  principles  and  a  work  of  art.* 

The  seminar  likewise,  though  a  practical  teaching 
process,  in  the  higher  stages  of  education,  is  essentially 
a  form  of  conversation,  or  of  conference,  and  knows  no 
other  law  than  that  of  its  specific  purpose  and  subject. 

Sometimes,  the  teacher  of  teachers  indulges  in  ad- 
dresses or  lectures,  and  sometimes  he  organizes  seminars, 
for  the  special  study,  by  proficient  members,  of  some  im- 
portant subject  more  or  less  closely  connected  with 
education.     It    is    perhaps    permissible,    therefore,    to 

*  Tolstoi,  What  Is  Art?  p.  74.      (Johnston,  translator.) 
56 


THE    TEACHING    PROCESSES 

mention  a  few  features  of  good  lecturing  and  of  well 
sustained  seminar  work. 

A  lecture  should  seldom  overrun  the  fatigue  limits 
of  average  adults,  which  are  not  over  an  hour  except  in 
times  of  high  emotional  excitement.  It  should  deal  with 
but  a  few  main  points  and  those  in  logical  and,  if  pos- 
sible, chmacteric  sequence.  It  should  have  some  variet}' 
at  least  of  illustration  in  order  to  avoid  monotony.  It 
should  be  carefully  prepared  to  the  least  detail,  even 
though  delivered  without  manuscript.  Not  even  a  school 
superintendent,  though  burdened  with  both  great  and 
petty  responsibilities  and  duties,  or  a  principal,  has  any 
right  to  appear  before  his  teachers  and  improvise. 

The  lecture  should  have  one  clear  conclusion. 

A  seminar  should  consist  of  but  a  small  number  of 
persons  who  are  really  interested  in  the  subject, — not 
over  a  dozen  and  better  but  half  as  many.  It  should 
meet  regularly  and  at  least  once  a  week  under  condi- 
tions of  time  and  place  that  guarantee  no  interruptions. 
It  requires  both  a  leader  who  is  a  scholar  and  also  work- 
ers who  can  follow  his  method  and  utilize  his  sugges- 
tions. Attendants  who  come  simply  to  listen  should  be 
barred:  they  may  become  censorious  critics.  These  are 
suggestions  relating  only  to  externals;  but  for  want  of 
heeding  them,  most  seminars  in  and  out  of  universities 
are  relatively  disappointing. 

A  highly  developed  and  notably  specialized  form  of 
lesson  is  that  known  as  translation.  Its  process  in- 
volves the  following  steps — viz.: 

1.  Study  of  the  passage  sentence  by  sentence,  phrase  by 
phrase  for  grammar  and  meaning  of  words. 

2.  Literal  translation  into  English. 

57 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

3.  Smooth  translation  into  idiomatic  English. 

4.  Giving  the  translation  in  class  recitation. 

5.  Construing  and  parsing. 

6.  Exposition  of  the  author's  meaning  in  content  and  in 
context. 

In  method,  this  lesson  combines  features  of  the  study 
lesson  with  an  oral  report  of  it  and  also  features  of  the 
inductive  lesson  and  even  of  the  scientific  labora- 
tory lesson.  In  practice,  because  of  faulty  private 
study,  it  generally  becomes  an  oral  study  lesson  in  which 
the  pupils  are  assisted  by  the  teacher. 

Last  is  the  teaching  process  that  is  incidental  to 
library  work.  Here  again  the  method  follows  closely 
that  of  the  study  lesson.  It  is  necessary  to  add  but  one 
item — the  teacher  who  directs  learners  to  any  kind  of 
library  should  himself  or  herself  actually  know  reason- 
ably well  the  material  that  he  or  she  expects  the  learner 
to  study.  Otherwise,  the  learner  is  likely  to  follow 
false  leads  and  to  waste  time  as  well  as  to  risk  serious 
discouragement,  or  absolute  misinformation.  A  great 
library  is  like  a  great  city  full  of  pitfalls  as  well  as  of 
palaces.  Even  a  small  library  is  dangerous  to  ill- 
informed  wayfarers. 

The  place  of  tests  and  examinations  in  school  life  can 
be  justified  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  educational  in- 
struments; and  they  should  be  strictly  limited  in  their 
scope  and  frequency  to  this  use  as  educational  instru- 
ments. 

A  test  samples  one's  knowledge  or' skill. 

An  examination  is  supposed  to  exhaust  it. 

The  test  finds  out  what  one  knows  or  can  do. 

The  examination  is  supposed  to  find  out  what  one 

58 


THE    TEACHING   PROCESSES 

does  not  know  or  cannot  do:  it  reaches  to  the  hmits  of 
one's  knowledge  or  skill. 

Though  tests  are  usually  shorter  than  examinations, 
the  distinction  between  them  does  not  rest  upon  this 
fact  but  upon  the  difference  in  their  aims. 

The  test  displays  whether  or  not  a  pupil  has  been  well 
taught;  the  examination  should  display  what  he  needs 
to  be  taught  next.  "Test"  means  "trial";  "examina- 
tion" means  "point  from." 

There  are  many  familiar  objections  on  physiological 
and  psychological  grounds  to  giving  tests  and  examina- 
tions in  elementary  schools.  Pupils  fear  them.  The 
nervous  children  do  badly  in  them.  Failure  brings  dis- 
couragement and  sometimes  ill-health;  success  often  de- 
velops undue  ambition  and  unfortunate  vanity.  It  is  said 
that  in  life  the  daily  work  rather  than  the  crisis  counts. 

And  yet  tests  and  examinations  continue,  despite 
these  and  many  other  objections.  Like  marks,  they 
appear  to  be  necessary,  though  evil.  What  then  should 
educators  do? 

First:  We  should  discover  the  true  uses  of  tests  and 
examinations.  These  are  (1)  focalizing  knowledge  or 
skill  upon  centers;  (2)  giving  the  teachers  correction- 
points     for     their     guidance     in    future    instruction; 

(3)  setting  up  goals  of  attainment   for  the  learners; 

(4)  eliminating  the  less  necessary  and  thereby  emphasiz- 
ing the  essentials. 

Second:  We  should  discard  the  false  uses  of  tests  and 
of  examinations.  Among  these  are  (1)  frightening  or 
threatening  dullards;  (2)  stimulating  the  ambitious; 
(3)  glossing  over  deficiencies  in  daily  work  by  cramming 
for  the  written  tests;  (4)  setting  up  fictitious  goals  for 
ourselves. 

59 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

Third:  We  should  postpone  examinations  as  late  in 
the  school  life  of  pupils  as  is  reasonable.  To  be  specific : 
— (1)  Shall  we  examine  for  high  school  admission? 
(2)  How  often  thereafter?  My  own  opinion  is  regard- 
ing the  first — In  good  school  systems,  no.  In  poor 
ones,  yes.  As  to  the  second,  my  opinion  is, — In  some 
studies,  twice  a  year.  In  others,  not  at  all.  The  entire 
matter,  however,  is  one  that  displays  education  at  the 
limits  of  exact  knowledge  based  upon  scientific  investi- 
gation and  consideration. 

Fourth:  In  our  elementary  schools  we  should  give 
more  tests  in  some  subjects  than  in  others;  more  in 
higher  grades  than  in  lower. 

Fifth :  In  length,  neither  tests  nor  examinations  should 
transgress  the  fatigue-limits  set  by  Nature  in  these  off- 
spring of  human  nature.^ 

Sixth:  Every  test  and  examination  should  be  ''fair," 
— I.  e.,  should  inquire  into  only  those  topics  which  have 
been  thoroughly  and  completely  canvassed  in  the  daily 
work  whether  that  be  in  laboratory  or  in  library,  in 
class-room  or  in  study-hall;  and  the  desired  answers 
should  be  only  such  as  were  plainly  indicated  in  the 
advance  lessons  and  exercises.  The  negative  correlate 
of  this  is  that  the  test  or  examination  is  no  place  for 
demanding  that  the  pupil  draw  some  advanced  con- 
clusion, see  some  new  point,  push  forward  some  liitherto 
unconsidered  argument.  The  test  or  examination  may 
indeed  require  reasoning  but  not  reasoning  upon  new 
grounds.  It  is  fear  of  originals  in  their  strict  sense,  new 
problems  involving  new  premises,  processes  and  ma- 
terials that  in  anticipation  breaks  down  our  nervous 
youth.     In  psychological  terms,  the  test  or  examination 

1  See  pages  122,  123. 
60 


THE   TEACHING   PROCESSES 

may  properly  call  upon  memory,  judgment,  standard 
reasoning  but  not  upon  imagination  or  initiative.  The 
only  exceptions  are  examinations  for  the  highest  aca- 
demic and  professional  degrees,  by  which  society  needs 
to  be  protected  from  such  as  do  not  have  all  their  re- 
sources, native  and  acquired,  at  prompt  command. 

Seventh :  Preparation  for  tests  and  examinations  is  no 
fit  incentive  for  the  daily  work.  They  must  be  kept  out 
of  mind. 

Eighth:  Tests  should  be  formal  reviews,  whether 
written  or  oral,  and  should  conform  to  the  principles  of 
the  oral  question-and-answer  or  "heuristic"  lesson.* 

Tests  are  mile-posts  in  the  process  through  a  subject. 
Examinations  determine  whether  or  not  the  wayfarer  has 
reached  the  destination.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  only 
a  pedant  would  voluntarily  test  and  examine  youth  in 
the  self-testing  and  self-examining  subjects,  in  which  in 
truth  every  advance  lesson  tells  any  competent  observer 
all  about  the  youth's  knowledge  of  and  skill  in  the  sub- 
ject to  that  point.^  To  be  specific:  There  are  no 
grounds  for  testing  or  examining  English  composition, 
penmanship,  reading,  music,  or  drawing. 

Some  subjects  require  no  tests,  but  do  permit  ex- 
aminations, because  in  them  every  lesson  is  a  test, — as 
arithmetic  and  grammar,  laboratory  sciences  and  semi- 

'  See  page  46,  above. 

^  I  do  not  mean  to  raise  here  any  question  about  entrance  examina- 
tions to  higher  institutions  of  learning,  i.  e.,  passing  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  one  school  to  that  of  another  not  within  the  system.  I  have 
convictions  on  this  point;  but  they  do  not  concern  a  text  that  deals 
with  class  teaching.  I  believe  heartily  in  the  plan  of  accrediting 
schools  by  official  visits  to  and  examination  of  the  schools  as  such 
(not  of  their  product)  and  of  accepting  their  certificates  for  the 
graduates. 

61 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND  MANAGEMENT 


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THE   TEACHING    PROCESSES 

nar  studies.  Others  require  only  tests  and  no  examina- 
tion,— as  physical  culture,  carpentry,  cookery.  And 
still  others  permit  both  tests  and  examinations, — geog- 
raphy, history,  literature  (historical),  translation  of 
ancient  and  foreign  literature.^  Subjects  taught  by 
lecture  methods  of  necessity  require  examinations.  But 
what  the  value  of  either  tests  or  examinations  may  be 
as  educational  instruments  in  the  case  of  the  subjects 
taught  by  laboratory  methods,  it  is  difficult  to  see.  In 
these  subjects,  indeed,  it  would  appear  that  the  examina- 
tions given  to  the  pupils  are  rather  intended  as  exam- 
inations of  the  instructors. 

In  conclusion,  one  who  duly  considers  the  situation  is 
not  unlikely  to  come  to  the  opinion  that  in  graded 
schools,  the  tests  and  examinations  given  by  the  higher 
authorities  to  the  pupils  are  essentially  devices  designed 
to  test  the  teachers  and  to  help  grade  the  classes  and 
so  to  preserve  the  uniformity  of  work  in  the  different 
schools.  Seldom,  I  was  about  to  say  never,  should 
these  tests  and  examinations  be  entered  as  part  of  the 
record  of  individual  students.  The  teacher's  own  tests 
and  such  as  have  been  made  and  given  by  higher 
authorities  with  the  teacher's  advice  and  consent  may 
be  entered  as  part  of  the  record. 

*  There  is  no  call  for  examinations  or  even  for  tests  in  the  process 
of  teaching  French,  German,  Spanish,  Italian,  or  other  foreign  lan- 
guage conversation. 


"The  common  school,  improved  and  energized  as  it  can 
easily  be,  may  become  the  most  effective  and  benignant  of 
all  the  forces  of  civilization/' — Horace  Mann,  Annual 
Report,  State  Board  of  Education,  Massachusetts.     1848. 


bjl  J«.i'A.v 


CHAPTER  III 

DEPARTMENT    TEACHING  — GRADE    TEACHING  — DIS- 
TRICT   SCHOOL   TEACHING 

Reasons  for  the  several  kinds  and  grades  of  schools. — The  lower 
limits  of  department  teaching  and  the  upper  limits  of  grade  teaching. 
— The  several  principles  of  department  teaching. — The  principles  of 
grade  teaching. — The  causes  of  the  rural  school  consolidation  mo\'e- 
ment. — Grading  the  district  school  that  has  but  one  teacher. —  Ad- 
vantages of  such  a  school. — In  aU  kinds  of  schools,  written  work, 
re\iews,  examinations. — Change  and  progress. 

A  SUBJECT  is  something  put  under;  in  the  case  of 
teaching,  the  subject  is  the  material  used  as  the 
means  of  teaching;  in  the  case  of  education,  the  sub- 
ject is  the  person  who  is  being  educated.  There  are, 
then,  two  subjects  in  the  school,  the  things  taught,  and 
the  persons  educated. 

The  lower  the  grade  of  the  teaching,  the  more  im- 
portant in  the  mind  of  the  teacher  should  be  the  person 
who  is  the  subject,  while  the  higher  the  grade  of  the 
teaching  the  more  important  must  be  the  thing  that  is 
taught.  But  always  the  teacher  has  two  subjects,  the 
study  or  exercise  and  the  pupil. 

In  elementary  schools,  the  main  interest  should  be  in 
the  pupils,  while  in  the  university  graduate  and  other 
professional  schools  the  main  interest  should  be  in  the 
subjects  of  the  curriculum.  The  small  child  does  well 
to  cover  a  page  of  new  material  a  day.    The  university 

6  67 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

student  may  master  a  serious  book  a  day,  or  the  equiva- 
lent. The  small  child  can  master  his  page  only  with  the 
help  of  a  skilful  teacher  at  every  letter.  The  university 
student  is  assigned  reading  passages  without  comment. 
At  five  years  of  age,  one  does  not  cover  per  day  one- 
thousandth  of  the  material  covered  at  twenty-one  years 
of  age. 

Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  superficial  appearance  of  the 
matter.  Upon  closer  examination,  it  will  be  discovered 
that  the  process  of  combining  sounds  with  signs  with 
ideas  and  of  then  transferring  the  ideas  back  to  signs, 
to  sounds, — that  is,  the  organic-psychic  process  of  hear- 
ing, seeing,  interpreting,  writing  and  speaking, — this  five- 
fold complex  of  unrelated  simple  processes,  this  ration- 
alizing of  man  through  languages,  is  precisely  the  most 
difficult  of  all  the  things  man  ever  learns,  and  constitutes 
what  is  essentially  a  miracle.  The  more  the  thing  is 
studied,  the  more  marvellous  it  is  seen  to  be.  Nothing 
that  the  university  man  learns  is  as  hard  to  learn  as 
this  elementary  matter  of  words. 

In  all  its  varieties  of  forms  and  modes,  reading  is  a 
subject  so  difficult  to  master  that  it  practically  never 
is  mastered  without  much  teaching  through  many 
years.  In  tliis  large  sense,  nearly  all  the  time  and 
energy  of  both  teacher  and  pupil  in  the  elementary 
school,  and  much  of  the  time  in  the  secondary  school, 
is  spent  upon  speech,  oral  and  written, — upon  words, 
their  meaning  and  use.  Not  until  the  later  years  of  the 
secondary  school  do  ideas  as  such  become  of  the  greater 
importance. 

This  fact  governs  the  nature  of  the  teaching  in  the 
different  grades  of  school.  In  the  lowest  grades,  since 
the  content  of  what  is  taught  is  relatively  unimport- 

08 


DEPARTMENT   TEACHING 

ant,  the  teacher  teaches  all  subjects.  In  the  middle 
schools,  he  teaches  several  subjects.  In  the  college, 
he  teaches  in  a  department.  In  the  university,  one 
distinct  specialty  is  all  that  the  teacher  can  ade- 
quately present. 

There  are  clearly  to  be  discriminated  four  several  kinds 
or  modes  of  teaching, — district  school  teaching,  grade 
teaching,  department  teaching,  special  teaching, — and 
there  is  one  other  educational  line,  research  work  di- 
rected by  a  specialist,  which  must  be  understood  as 
coming  within  the  educational  purview.  Each  has  its 
own  methods.  Of  these  five  educational  gradations  of 
the  teaching  business,  the  first  three  are  within  the  field 
of  the  present  subject.  But  class  instruction  and  man- 
agement, as  usually  understood,  does  not  contemplate 
the  relations  of  a  speciahst  with  his  students,  however 
large  be  their  number,  and  is  no  part  of  the  problem  of 
the  director  of  research  work. 

These  four  several  kinds  or  modes  of  teaching  in- 
volve adaptions  of  the  various  kinds  of  recitations  and 
lessons  discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  These 
adaptations  are  required  by  the  conditions  of  organiza- 
tion in  the  several  kinds  of  schools  and  by  the  kinds  of 
learners  in  attendance.  For  the  reason  already  stated, 
the  first  or  highest  kind  of  class  teaching,  that  of  the 
specialist  in  college  or  university,  is  so  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  the  nature  of  the  subject-matter  and  the 
special  conditions  of  the  institution  as  to  be  without 
the  purview  of  this  book.  The  question  as  to  how  to 
teach  a  class  in  the  history  of  English  literature  of  the 
period  of  Shakespeare  is  indeed  a  question  of  pedagogy; 
so  is  the  question  as  to  how  best  one  may  present  the 
theory  of  torts  to  a  law  school  class.     But  no  treatment 

09 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

in  a  general  text-book  of  pedagogy  would  be  sufficiently 
edifying  to  warrant  its  appearance. 

The  next  lower  grade  of  teaching  has  come  to  be 
known  as  "department  teaching."  We  find  this  in 
colleges,  in  high  schools  and  academies,  and  occasionally 
in  the  upper  grades  of  elementary  schools. 

A  department  teacher  is  one  who  shares  with  several 
other  teachers  the  teaching  of  several  classes  and  in 
those  classes  teaches  one  or  more  related  groups  of 
subjects. 

Illustration: — A  high  school  has  ten  teachers.  One  has 
both  French  and  German,  another  the  mathematics  of  the 
higher  grades  and  physics,  another  the  first-year  mathe- 
matics, etc.  There  are  six  periods  a  day,  and  each  teacher 
takes  five  periods  a  day  for  teaching.  The  school  may  have, 
therefore,  fifty  recitation  and  ten  study  periods  daily  under 
teachers.  When  the  school  has  four  years  of  courses,  this 
averages  twelve  classes  to  a  year.  Such  is  department 
teaching. 

Where  the  teacher  meets  several  different  classes 
daily  and  shares  with  several  other  teachers  the  in- 
struction in  the  school,  but  teaches  subjects  not  allied, 
as  for  example,  history  and  algebra,  or  English  and 
chemistry,  there  one  sees  not  true  department  teaching 
but  grade  or  even  district  school  teaching  mixed  with 
department  teaching. 

As  an  instructor,  the  first  thing  for  the  true  depart- 
ment teacher  to  do  is  to  determine  the  method  of  in- 
struction best  adapted  to  bring  the  subject-matter 
before  learners  of  the  ages  and  qualifications  in  his 
class  within  the  Hmits  of  the  irmer  logic  and  of  the 
special  method  of  his  subject. 

70 


DEPARTMENT   TEACHING 

Here  names  are  apt  to  be  misleading.  ''Latin"  in 
the  first  year  is  not  the  same  kind  of  subject  in  respect 
to  its  method  as  is  Latin  of  the  second  year.  "  EngHsh  " 
covers  many  kinds  of  discipHne.  German  by  the  in- 
ductive method,  German  by  the  conversational  method, 
and  German  by  the  eclectic  method  are  as  different  as 
iron  ore,  pig  iron,  and  steel.     Each  contains  German. 

The  second  inquiry  of  the  department  instructor  is 
what  time  in  fact  do  his  students  have  for  out-of-class 
study.  The  inquiry  is  not  as  to  what  time  they  ought 
to  have.  A  deal  of  the  bad  department  teaching  springs 
from  assimaptions  and  expectations  and  hopes.  This 
out-of-class  study  should  invariably  be  only  the  carry- 
ing out  of  directed  plans.  The  new  passage  in  the 
foreign  language  should  be  run  over  by  the  teacher 
before  it  is  attacked  by  the  pupil.  Assigning  lessons  that 
are  absolutely  new  is  almost  research  work,  required  per- 
haps ten  years  before  the  pupil  has  reached  the  research 
stage  of  mental  power  and  habit.  It  is  a  sure  way  to 
drive  learners  out  of  school  and  college.  But  shall  the 
learners  never  undertake  new  work?  Yes,  in  class,  with 
their  teacher  to  guide  them. 

It  is  a  safe  principle  that  when  the  learners  have  but 
little  time  for  home  study,  the  teacher  as  far  as  pos- 
sible shall  follow  inductive  methods  of  instruction.  This 
involves  going  forward  but  slowly  in  the  subject.  Where 
the  time  available  for  home  study  is  large,  one  may  fol- 
low deductive  methods  more  safely.  Of  course,  some 
subjects,  and  some  topics  in  other  subjects,  have  their 
method  virtually  prescribed  by  their  very  nature,  but 
in  many  instances  there  is  opportunity  for  choice. 

It  is  one  of  the  limitations  of  the  department  organiza- 
tion of  the  higher  schools  of  learning  that  seldom  does 

71 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

the  teacher  of  a  subject  have  charge  of  the  study  of 
lessons  by  the  learners  even  during  the  school  study 
periods.  It  is  a  common  practice  of  teachers  in  second- 
ary schools,  and  often  a  requirement  of  the  superiors, 
that  the  entire  time  of  the  teaching  period  be  devoted 
to  oral  or  written  recitations  or  other  instruction.  In 
some  subjects,  actually  more  progress  will  be  secured 
by  utilizing  a  portion  of  even  a  relatively  brief  period 
for  directed  study.  This  does  not  amount  to  an  ap- 
proval of  what  are  sometimes  denominated  as  ''recita- 
tions with  the  book  open."  It  means  direct  study 
under  the  teacher's  guidance. 

A  third  point  that  the  department  teacher  needs  to 
regard  is  securing  an  equitable  portion  of  the  time  and 
interest  of  each  pupil  for  his  work  in  comparison  with 
the  time  and  interest  secured  by  other  teachers  for  their 
work.  This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  to  each 
subject  shall  be  given  the  same  amount  of  time  and 
interest.  But  all  of  a  student's  courses  belong  within 
the  field  of  his  duty,  and  the  boy  or  youth  who  learns 
to  slight  any  one  of  them  is  learning  something  that 
goes  far  to  offset  the  gain  made  by  perhaps  greater 
diligence  in  other  lines.  Learning  to  shuffle  an  obliga- 
tion is  wholly  unfortunate  in  its  effect  upon  character. 

This  point  is  a  matter  for  arrangement  with  the 
superior  officers  and  with  one's  colleagues  as  well  as  a 
requirement  to  be  enforced  upon  the  learners  themselves. 

The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  department 
teaching  are  much  discussed.  In  these  discussions,  one 
essential  consideration  is  often  ignored.  Department 
teaching  is  a  necessity  in  the  higher  stages  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  learner  in  education;  and  the  true  question 
is  simply  at  what  point  to  introduce  such  teaching. 


DEPARTMENT  TEACHING 

The  necessity  for  department  teaching  in  the  higher 
ranges  of  education  arises  from  several  facts.  First, 
no  human  mind  can  compass  at  one  time  adequately 
and  efficiently  all  the  subjects  that  a  class  of  learners 
should  study.  Second,  as  youths  grow  older,  they 
benefit  by  meeting  several  different  persons  as  teachers. 
They  are  brought  consequently  to  several  different 
points  at  which  to  look  out  upon  and  to  get  their  own 
bearings  in  the  world.  Third,  the  subjects  of  the  higher 
education  have  not  only  special  methods  but  constantly 
increasing  bodies  of  knowledge  and  of  opinion;  and  the 
interests  of  teachers  are  in  these  subjects  rather  than 
in  the  learners.  To  give  all  the  subjects  that  a  class 
pursues  to  one  teacher  insures  a  larger  interest  on  the 
part  of  that  teacher  in  the  learners  than  in  the  subjects 
taught,  which  is  desirable  in  the  years  of  elementary 
schooling  but  not  later.  Fourth,  and  not  least  in  im- 
portance.— By  giving  different  classes  in  the  same  sub- 
ject to  one  teacher,  the  pupils  have  the  advantage  of 
studying  this  same  subject  for  a  longer  period  of  time 
with  that  one  teacher  than  is  possible  in  graded  school 
teaching:  the  teacher  may  have  the  class  in  that  sub- 
ject for  two  or  three  years.  This  establishes  an  educa- 
tional continuum,  whereas  grade  teaching  establishes 
an  educational  socium.  True  education  is  like  a  cloth, 
with  warp,  woof  and  nap,  and  it  has  both  length  and 
breadth. 

The  extreme  views  in  respect  to  department  teaching 
are,  first,  that  it  should  begin  in  the  fifth  year  of  school, — 
that  is,  in  the  middle  of  the  grammar  or  elementary 
school  course, — and,  second,  that  it  should  be  postponed 
until  the  third  year  of  the  four-year  high  school  course. 
The  common  practice  is  to  begin  the  departmental 

73 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

organization  of  the  school  with  the  first  year  of  the 
high  school;  and  the  tendency  is  to  introduce  such  an 
organization  now  in  the  last  two  years  of  the  grammar 
school. 

There  is  some  advocacy  of  reducing  the  elementary 
school  course  to  six  or  seven  years  and  of  enlarging  the 
secondary  school  course  to  six  years.  When  this  is  done 
either  by  establishing  sub-high  schools  (or  intermediate 
schools)  in  the  place  of  our  present  seventh  and  eighth 
(or  eighth  and  ninth)  elementary  school  grades  or  by 
transferring  these  grades  bodily  to  the  high  schools, 
the  question  at  once  arises  whether  or  not  to  organize 
these  pupils  by  the  departmental  plan.  In  the  present 
state  of  pedagogical  opinion,  the  question  usually  but 
not  always  is  answered  affirmatively. 

Grade  teaching  is  such  a  plan  of  organizing  a  school 
that  each  group  of  learners,  usually  about  forty  in  num- 
ber, has  one  teacher  for  all  subjects.  Occasionally,  in  a 
large  school,  there  is  an  extra  or  special  teacher  for 
drawing  or  for  music  or  for  manual  training,  who  visits 
every  class  that  has  the  subject  and  instructs  the  pupils 
directly  and  is  the  only  teacher  of  such  subjects.  But 
the  common  plan  is  to  have  these  extra  teachers  only 
as  supervisors  making  infrequent  visits  and  instructing 
the  class  teachers  rather  than  the  pupils. 

The  necessity  for  grade  teaching  arises  from  the  fact 
that  in  the  transition  from  home  and  family  to  school, 
the  child  suddenly  discovers  not  only  the  personality  of 
another  but  by  reaction  the  personalities  of  his  mother 
and  of  himself.  In  discovering  the  teacher,  he  has 
found  as  it  were  the  solid  geometry  of  the  social 
sphere.  He  learns  that  teacher  and  school  are  not 
in  the  same  plane  of  Ufe  as  mother  and  honie.     This 

74 


GRADE   TEACHING 

is  one  stage  of  his  self-alienation.  He  has  begun 
to  see  that  life  is  being,  is  becoming,  is  growth.  The 
first  day  at  school  is  almost  as  important  in  life  as 
marriage.  The  first  year  at  school  is  the  year  of  a 
most  difficult  adjustment.  In  the  kindergarten,  there 
is,  it  is  true,  usually  the  assistant  kindergartner  as  well 
as  the  principal  kindergartner,  but  the  kindergarten  is 
not  a  rigid  discipline.  It  is  rather  a  new  way  of  playing 
at  life.  The  first  grade  is  work.  To  say  this  is  not  to 
defend  the  great  difference  that  now  exists  between  the 
kindergarten  and  the  primary  school.  It  is  to  explain 
the  difference  by  showing  that  the  kindergarten  is  much 
like  the  home,  while  the  grade  is  not  like  the  home 
at  all. 

In  consequence,  the  custom  is  to  give  first  grade 
children  to  one  teacher  who  is  to  study  them,  to  teach 
them  in  all  lines,  and  to  convert  them  into  "scholars." 
Whether  the  transition  from  home  to  school,  or  even 
from  home  via  kindergarten  (where  the  kindergarten 
exists)  to  school  is  ruder  than  it  needs  to  be;  whether 
by  a  reconstructed  class-room,  by  a  differently  prepared 
teacher  of  primary  work,  by  a  different  course  of  study, 
some  of  the  best  features  of  the  kindergarten  regime 
may  not  be  carried  over  into  the  years  after  the  learner 
is  six  years  old;  and  whether  then  it  will  not  be  found 
best  to  give  every  class  at  least  two  teachers,  are  all 
questions  in  the  theory  of  education  lying  beyond  the 
present  treatment.  We  may  yet  change  many  things 
in  our  elementary  schools.  But  until  our  theory  is 
changed  and  our  buildings,  normal  cou^-ses,  text-books 
and  elementary  courses  are  changed  accordingly,  the 
one-teacher-per-class  will  prevail. 

The  grade-teaching  plan  accomplishes  certain  results. 

75 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND  MANAGEMENT 

First,  the  teacher  knows  what  each  child  is  doing  in 
each  and  every  subject,  and  what  all  the  children  are 
doing  in  each  subject.  There  is  a  double  association 
in  her  own  mind.  (Nearly  all  grade  teachers  are  women.) 
She  thinks  of  all  the  subjects  in  their  relations  with  one 
another,  and  she  thinks  of  all  her  pupils  in  their  relations 
with  each  subject  and  with  all  subjects.  The  boy  who 
is  weak  in  aritlmietic  is  allowed  to  devote  to  it  a  little 
of  the  time  that  can  be  spared  perhaps  from  some  sub- 
ject in  wliich  he  is  strong.  A  topic  may  serve  more  than 
one  use,  by  being  brought  into  relations  with  several 
subjects. 

To  illustrate: — A  history  topic  becomes  the  material  for  an 
English  composition,  and  that  in  turn  for  a  grammar  lesson. 
In  fact,  effective  correlation  by  the  pupils  can  scarcely  be 
secured  in  any  other  wa}-  than  by  having  it  first  take  place 
in  the  mind  of  one  teacher. 

A  second  result  of  good  grade  teaching  is  accurate 
grading  and  classifying  of  the  learners  so  that  pupils 
of  about  the  same  age  and  attainments  and  powers 
proceed  together,  with  annual  or  semiannual  or  even 
more  frequent  regracUng.  Such  grading  and  associat- 
ing of  pupils  with  one  another  is  of  advantage  in  that 
for  the  total  number  it  promotes  progress.  Where 
associated  pupils  are  very  uneven  as  in  the  district 
school,  the  bright  young  pupils  are  stimulated  by  the 
presence  of  older  pupils,  but  on  the  other  hand  these 
latter  are  discouraged  by  the  superior  quickness  of  the 
younger  ones.  Good  grading  as  a  matter  of  fact  tends, 
at  the  critical  ages  of  fourteen  to  sixteen,  to  hold  boys 
and  girls  in  school.  A  boy  who  is  keeping  up  well  with 
boys  of  about  the  same  age  does  not  hke  to  fall  out 

76 


GRADE   TEACHING 

and  to  go  to  work.  The  dullards  are  the  laggards,  and 
the  laggards  usually  drop  out  as  soon  as  the  compulsory 
education  laws  permit.  Good  grading  puts  the  dullards 
about  where  they  belong  with  brighter  but  younger 
pupils.  In  consequence,  they  pluck  up  some  courage 
and  do  not  lag  so  much  as  they  would  if  overgraded. 
Well  graded  classes  cover  more  ground  than  poorly 
graded  classes,  wliich  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  the 
large  school  as  compared  with  the  small. 

A  third  result  of  grade  teaching  is  that  the  pupils  do 
not  stay  long  with  any  one  teacher.  This  has  two 
aspects,  one  good  and  two  bad.  The  tendency  in  the 
graded  school  is  to  change  the  teacher  every  year  or 
every  half-year.  There  is  a  constant  sense  of  the  fact 
that  promotion  comes  soon,  and  with  it  the  new  teacher. 
This  saves  friction.  It  promotes  ambition.  Where  a 
pupil  does  not  like  a  teacher,  where  the  two  tempera- 
ments do  not  work  together  well,  the  certainty  of  change 
before  long  keeps  open  the  door  of  hope.  But  at  the 
same  time  the  frequent  change  breaks  some  hearts. 
Scarcely  do  teacher  and  most  of  the  pupils  come  thor- 
oughly to  know  and  like  one  another  than  the  teacher  is 
changed.  In  the  second  place,  the  teacher  who  remains 
in  teaching  is  apt  to  settle  to  a  routine  of  the  same 
grade  or  half-grade  every  year  or  half-year  for  many 
years.  Instances  are  not  uncommon  in  the  East  where 
the  teacher  has  had  the  same  grade  and  room  for  twenty- 
five  years.  In  one  instance  within  my  knowledge,  she 
had  the  same  room  and  grade  for  forty  years.  It  can- 
not be  successfully  argued  that  such  a  routine  is  favor- 
able to  the  intellectual  and  emotional  life  of  any  person. 
When  the  teacher  has  but  one  subject  for  that  number 
of  years  in  a  university,  he  may  become  a  renowned 

77 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

expert;  but  the  grade  teacher  not  only  has  too  many 
subjects  for  any  such  expertness  but  is  required  to 
keep  too  closely  to  those  simple  elements  which  are 
within  the  comprehension  of  the  pupils  to  permit  her 
to  grow  freely  in  the  field  of  even  one  of  those  sub- 
jects. 

In  grade  teaching,  the  teacher  should  first  infoim 
herself  thoroughly  as  to  the  facts  and  principles  of  pri- 
mary importance  in  each  and  every  subject  that  she  is 
to  teach.  These  do  not  change  much  from  decade  to 
decade,  for  the  course  of  study  in  elementary  schools  is 
now  relatively  fixed  and  is  made  up  of  universal  matters. 
It  is  not  enough  to  know  these  well  enough  to  pass  a 
graduation  examination  at  a  normal  school.  It  is 
requisite  to  know  them  so  well  that  nothing  whatever 
in  the  way  of  class-room  incident  can  drive  them  out 
of  the  mind.  Teaching  with  a  book  in  one's  hand  has 
entirely  gone  out  of  schools  that  to-day  are  recognized 
as  good.  The  teacher  must  be  an  absolutely  accurate 
speller,  should  know  perfectly  the  multiplication  and 
denominate  niunber  tables,  should  be  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  every  line  in  each  day's  reading  lesson,  re- 
quiring no  book  to  verify  her  recall  of  its  words.  The 
teacher  who  knows  is  the  master,  or  mistress,  of  the 
pupils  who  do  not  yet  know.  She  should  write  well, 
sing  well,  read  well,  draw  well,  perform  every  kind  of 
arithmetical  computation  well,  talk  exceptionally  well 
in  sentences  of  the  best  construction.  She  needs  to 
know  "more  than  the  books"  of  history  and  geography. 

It  is  assumed  that  it  has  been  a  part  of  her  prepara- 
tion as  a  teacher  to  learn  the  key  to  method  in  each  and 
every  elementary  school  subject.  But  until  she  has 
tried  these  methods  herself,  she  really  does  not  know 


GRADE   TEACHING 

them.  Those  who  do  not  look  closely  into  elementary 
school  teaching  are  apt  not  to  see  that  there  is  as 
much  difference  between  the  first  grade  child  and  the 
fourth  grade  child  as  between  the  college  freshman  and 
the  college  senior.  The  latter  difference  has  been  much 
exploited  and  can  be  seen  from  far.  The  former  (and 
to  the  development  of  character  more  important  dif- 
ference) has  not  been  much  exploited.  In  the  same 
way,  we  have  heard  much  of  methods  in  college  and 
high  school  science,  but  in  fact  methods  in  primary 
reading  and  number  and  geography,  Nature-study, 
writing  and  music,  manual  training,  physical  culture, 
hygiene,  and  ethics,  though  seldom  heard  of  beyond  the 
doors  of  normal  school  and  teachers'  institutes,  are  as 
debatable,  considerable,  and  critical  as  are  any  uni- 
versity methods. 

The  teacher  needs  to  know  the  standard  methods, 
the  proposed  new  methods,  if  any,  and  the  reasons  sup- 
porting them. 

To  illustrate: — Which  should  be  used,  the  phonic  method 
of  teaching  to  read,  or  the  word-and-idea  method,  or  the 
sentence-and-thought  method,  or  the  elocutionary  expres- 
sion method,  or  some  eclectic  method?  Moreover,  one  who 
enters  seriously  upon  this  inquiry  into  reading  discovers  that 
it  makes  a  deal  of  difference  whether  he  is  dealing  with 
American  children  coming  from  American  homes  or  with 
foreign  children  of  many  nationalities  in  the  same  room 
or  with  foreign  children  of  but  one  or  two  nationalities.  I 
am  myself  persuaded  that  the  appeal  to  curiosity  with 
phonics  minimized  is  the  right  way  to  deal  with  children 
from  English-speaking  homes,  but  that  phonics  pure  and 
simple  constitute  the  true  avenue  for  a  class  with  many 
foreigners  of  a  variety  of  nationalities.     Interesting  as  this 

79 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

inquiry  is  upon  its  face,  it  is  not  more  essentially  interesting 
than  the  inquiry  when,  how  and  with  what  to  begin  Nature- 
study. 

The  university  man  studies  at  most  four  subjects  at 
a  time  with  four  professors.  The  primary  child  studies 
twelve  different  subjects  with  but  one  teacher.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  in  the  assessing  of  the  world,  the 
former  enterprise  rates  as  more  important  than  the 
latter.  We  may  think  but  we  cannot  really  know 
which  takes  the  more  skill  or  the  more  consumes  the 
energies  of  the  soul.  For  myself,  I  hold  that  we  con- 
stantly underestimate  the  endeavor  and  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  small  child.  In  consequence,  we  constantly 
underestimate  the  endeavor  of  his  mother  and  of  his 
teacher,  and  their  corresponding  achievements  in  bring- 
ing him  into  knowledge  of  liimself  and  of  the  world. 

Not  less  does  the  grade  teacher  need  to  study  the 
natures  of  children,  in  particular  the  natures  of  the 
children  directly  before  her.  She  is  a  working  psychol- 
ogist, or  else  she  may  be  a  delayer  and  a  thwarter  of 
child-development.  To  know  child-psychology  means 
first  to  know  systematic  psychology  and  next  racial 
psychology  and  then  genetic  psychology  and  last  and 
most  the  temperaments  and  other  qualities  of  all  the 
different  children  in  her  care.  Especially  where  her 
class  has  in  it  representatives  of  many  chfferent  races 
does  the  teacher  need  to  know  something  of  race- 
psychology  and  its  underlying  somatology.' 

Wanting  such  knowledge,  the  teacher  is  constantly 
tempted  to  overrate  the  importance  of  ideas,  ignoring 

'  See  Ripley's  Races  of  Europe,  a  work  of  great  value  to  all  thought- 
ful teachers. 

80 


DEPARTMENT   TEACHING 

the  fact  that  some  temperaments  are  unresponsive  to 
ideas  and  others  actually  repellent  of  ideas,  ignoring 
also  the  fact  that  the  temperaments  most  responsive 
to  ideas  are  the  very  ones  that  are  least  stable  and  the 
hardest  to  train  to  habits/ 

When  now  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing  consideration 
of  both  department  and  grade  teaching,  we  inquire  when 
the  former  should  begin  and  the  latter  end,  it  should  be 
apparent  that  what  we  need  is  really  a  gradual  transi- 
tion. If  it  is  best,  and  probably  it  is,  that  the  children 
of  the  first  five  or  six  grades  should  have  but  one  teacher 
at  a  time,  it  would  appear  best  to  make  the  next  step 
not  a  sudden  jump  to  four  or  five  different  teachers  but 
to  only  two.  And  I  venture  the  suggestion  that  a  happy 
solution  of  the  problem  in  large  schools  is  to  arrange  the 
higher  grammar  classes  in  pairs,  each  pair  to  two 
teachers,  and  not  to  give  the  first-year  high  school  pupils 
over  three  different  teachers,  classifying  such  pupils  in 
trios  of  classes  whenever  feasible,  three  teachers  to  each 
group  of  three  classes. 

An  unusually  successful  college  teacher  of  biology  was 
accustomed  to  say  that  the  secret  of  his  success  was  the 
fact  that  every  day  throughout  his  course,  he  reviewed 
all  that  his  students  had  previously  learned  in  biology. 
Whatever  in  this  direction  may  be  true  of  college  teach- 
ing, it  certainly  is  true  of  the  best  grade  teaching  that 
it  is  mainly  reviewing,  with  but  slight  daily  advance 

'  The  first  educator  seriously  to  see  this  situation  was  Roger 
Ascham,  tutor  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  in  The  Schohmaster,  1570, 
wrote  with  fine  discrimination  upon  this  highly  important  theme. 
He  had  seen  life  in  a  large  way  and  in  this  posthumous  work  said, — 
"A  wise  scholemaster  will  weigh  most  what  his  scholar,  whether  hard- 
witted  or  quick-witted,  dull  and  knotty  or  light  and  merry,  is  likely 
to  do  hereafter." 

81 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

work.  It  is  also  true  of  most  of  the  good  primary  in- 
struction that,  given  a  choice  of  the  several  methods, — 
inductive,  deductive  and  question  -  and  -  answer, — it 
chooses  the  first  rather  than  the  second  and  the  second 
rather  than  the  third.  The  throne-room  of  "the  five 
formal  steps  of  the  recitation"  is  any  primary  room, 
and  its  hall  of  state  the  Nature-study  or  science  lesson, 
in  kindergarten  or  any  grade,  in  college  or  university. 
The  laboratory  experiment  is  simply  an  exaltation  of 
the  second  ''step"  of  the  "presentation."  The  medical 
clinic,  likewise. 

For  most  Americans,  for  nearly  two  in  three  of  the 
adults  of  this  generation,  the  district  school  has  been 
their  only  educational  institution.  With  the  recent 
rapid  growth  of  large  cities,  of  towns  and  of  villages, 
and  with  the  still  more  recent  development  of  rural 
school  consolidation  and  rural  transportation  of  chil- 
dren from  sparsely  settled  outlying  districts  to  some 
common  union  school  center,  it  is  not  true  of  the  boys 
and  girls  of  to-day  that  two-thirds  of  them  will  go,  or 
are  now  going,  to  the  one-teacher  school  for  all  their 
education.  But  at  best  we  shall  be  fortunate  if  we  can 
soon  get  one-half  of  the  youth  of  this  land  into  graded 
schools. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  school  of  one  teacher  for  all 
pupils  and  classes  is  always  a  poor  school  and  inferior  to 
the  graded  school  of  two  or  more  classes  and  teachers. 
But  the  rule  holds  that  merely  to  separate  the  small 
children  from  the  larger  and  to  give  one  group  to  one 
teacher  and  the  other  to  a  second  teacher  makes  so 
great  a  change  in  conditions  as  to  insure  that  the 
primary-grammar  two-graded  school  is  better  than  the 
one-teacher  graded  school. 

82 


DISTRICT   TEACHING 

It  maybe  defective  reasoning,  and  so  self-contradictory 
as  to  be  witty;  but  the  truth  seems  to  be  that  the  best 
way  to  improve  a  district  school  is  to  swallow  it  up  in 
a  union  graded  school.  Better  always  one  school  of  two 
graded  rooms  with  two  teachers  for  any  number  of 
pupils  than  any  two  ungraded  schools  of  the  same  num- 
ber of  pupils,  provided  the  two  teachers  are  the  same. 
This  problem,  however,  of  consolidating  two  or  five  or 
ten  small  or  large  one-teacher  ungraded  district  schools 
into  some  kind  of  union  school  belongs  to  another  kind 
of  educational  book,  not  to  this:  it  is  a  problem  of 
organization  and  administration. 

Again  to  indulge  in  a  remark  that  is  a  contradiction 
in  terms. — In  teaching  an  ungraded  district  school,  the 
first  thing  to  do  is  to  grade  its  pupils.  What  the  grad- 
ing shall  be  depends  entirely  upon  the  number  and 
proficiency  of  its  pupils.  A  district  school  may  have 
one  pupil,  and  it  may  have  fifty  or  a  hundred.  Schools 
of  from  seven  to  twenty  learners  are  frequently  main- 
tained. The  average  age  of  the  attendants  may  be  ten 
years  or  eight  years  or  twelve  years. 

In  grading  district  school  pupils,  only  the  important 
logical  studies  should  be  considered, — namely,  arith- 
metic and  English  (that  is,  reading,  language  and  gram- 
mar). As  to  the  number  of  grades,  the  numbers  of  the 
pupils  in  each  grade,  and  the  number  of  subjects  to  be 
taught  to  each  grade,  it  is  time  wasted  to  attempt  to 
set  down  rules.  A  few  cautions  should,  however,  be 
observed. 

First,  the  grades  should  be  as  few  as  is  reasonable. 

It  is  better  to  have  three  than  five  and  far  better  to 

have  four  than  seven. 

Second,  the  classes  should  each  have  as  many  pupils 
7  83 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

as  can  be  brought  together  without  too  great  a  disparity 
in  powers  and  attainments. 

Third,  not  over  four  different  subjects  should  be 
taught  in  each  day's  program  for  one  grade. 

Fourth,  the  recitation  periods  should  be  as  long  as 
they  can  be  made  in  justice  to  the  total  number  of 
pupils  and  to  the  rights  of  each. 

To  illustrate: — -A  school  of  thirty-five  pupils,  ranging  from 
six  to  fifteen  years  old  and  averaging  ten  years.  1.  Make 
four  grades, — beginners,  high  primary,  low  grammar,  and 
graduating  class.  2.  Here  the  intermediate  classes  will 
probably  number  a  dozen  each,  with  half  a  dozen  in  the 
lowest  and  highest  grades  respectively.  3.  Teach  one 
program  for  Monday,  Wednesday  and  Friday,  and  another 
for  Tuesday  and  Thursday, — exceptions,  the  beginners 
should  have  some  reading  each  day ;  and  the  highest  class, 
some  arithmetic.  4.  Assuming  that  each  of  the  four  classes 
recites  four  times  each  day,  in  a  school  day  of  five  and  a 
half  hours,  recitations  may  average  twenty  minutes  each  in 
length;  though — 5. — it  is  better  to  cut  this  average  to 
fifteen  minutes  and  thereby  to  secure  an  hour  and  a  quarter 
for  individual  help  of  the  students  by  the  teacher.^ 

The  teacher  of  a  large  district  school  should  be  a  col- 
lege in  himself.  (One  half  of  American  rural  teachers 
are  men.)  But  until  he  has  taught  many  years, — which 
he  is  entirely  unlikely  to  do, — it  is  useless  to  ask  him 
to  know  his  subjects  so  well  that  he  can  teach  all  grades 
in  all  subjects  with  no  book  open  in  his  hands.  The 
nervous  fatigue  of  such  a  teacher  is  so  great  that  he 
cannot  for  many  months  continuously  pursue  the  course 
of  stud3dng  late  into  the  night  and  thereby  preparing 

*  See  page  132,  below. 
84 


DISTRICT   TEACHING 

each  day's  lesson  in  each  subject  and  correcting  all  the 
papers  of  all  his  classes  in  out-of-school  hours.  At  best, 
the  only  fair  requirement  is  to  ask  him  to  do  all  he  can 
to  master,  and  to  keep  fresh  his  mastery  of,  his  subject- 
matter. 

The  rural  district  school-teacher  should  desire  to 
know  the  methods  of  each  subject  and  the  devices  for 
carrying  them  out  and  also  the  standard  primary  and 
elementary  "general  methods," — but  he  cannot  do  so 
much.  At  best,  the  only  fair  requirement  is  to  ask  him 
to  try  to  get  the  best  methods  in  the  essential  studies. 

Similarly,  one  might  review  the  other  requirements 
of  good  teaching  in  the  light  of  the  possible  accom- 
plishment of  the  rural  teacher;  but  it  is  not  highly 
profitable  to  do  so.  It  is  well  for  us  diligently  to  con- 
sider two  or  three  facts,  however,  before  passing  from 
this  topic.  First,  the  country  child  has  several  almost 
measureless  advantages  over  the  child  of  the  city:  he 
has  the  opportunity,  the  necessity  and  almost  the  cer- 
tainty, of  a  sound  body.  He  has,  second,  a  mind  not 
overcrowded  with  sights  and  sounds  and  notions, — a, 
mind  not  trained  to  the  dissipation  of  attention.  Third, 
at  school,  at  church  or  other  neighborhood  gathering, 
he  has  but  a  few  persons  to  learn  and  understand. 
These  he  does  learn, — as  types;  and  by  them  he  judges 
afterwards  all  others.  Rural  isolation  may  be  bad  for 
adults;  but  the  world  of  Nature  is  the  one  right  world 
for  the  cliild. 

The  large  city  graded  school  and  its  subsequent  high 
school  give  to  the  city  child  an  educational  opportunity 
compared  with  which  the  district  school  at  its  worst  is 
but  a  beggar's  dole;  but  they  cannot  restore  to  the 
child  his  lost  out-doors  of  field,  woods,  sky,  sun,  animals, 

85 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

flowers,  few  and  close  companions,  and  the  immediate 
practicality  of  the  farm  or  ranch  or  plantation. 

There  are  certain  observations  that  apply,  with  modi- 
fications, to  all  these  places  or  kinds  of  teaching, — to 
secondary  school  department  teaching,  to  primary  or 
elementary  school  grade  teaching,  and  to  district  school 
teaching. 

The  question  is  constantly  coming  up  as  to  what  por- 
tion of  time  should  be  devoted  to  written  work.  It  is 
sometimes  said  that  when  a  poor  teacher  does  not  know 
how  to  discipline  a  class,  he  sets  them  a  writing  exercise. 
The  best  educational  opuiion  seems  to  incline  to  the 
view  that  an  abundance  of  written  work  marks  the 
strongest  schools  and  the  ablest  teachers.  In  the 
grades  where  writing  should  be  emphasized, — the  drill- 
and-habituation  grades  from  fourth  to  sixth  or  seventh 
inclusive, — writing  of  all  kinds  of  exercises  for  penman- 
ship, in  spelling,  in  history,  geography,  arithmetic,  com- 
position, and  in  ''memory  gems"  should  occupy  half 
of  the  school  day.  Writing  tends  to  accuracy,  to 
thoroughness,  and  to  closeness  of  reasoning.  All  formal 
reviews,  most  tests,  and  many  recitations  should  be 
written.  Writing  covers  the  ground  but  slowly, — or  it 
covers  but  little  ground.  Rather  let  us  say  that  it 
plants  seeds,  sprouts,  bushes,  saplings.  Wlien  one  has 
told  something  and  then  has  written  it  out  and  read  it 
aloud,  one  probably  understands  it. 

Another  question  is  that  regarding  the  length  and  the 
frequency  of  tests,  reviews  and  examinations.  The 
fundamental  facts  of  the  learning  process  show  that 
every  advance  lesson  should  begin  as  a  test  and  review 
of  what  is  already  known.  Lest  this  answer  appear  to 
be  a  quibble,  let  it  be  said  that  the  frequency  of  the 

86 


DEPARTMENT   TEACHING 

occasions  when  the  entire  time  of  the  class  should  be 
given  to  all-review  work  should  depend  both  upon  the 
subject  and  upon  the  age  and  grade  of  the  students. 
All-review  lessons  should  come  more  frequently  in  in- 
formational than  in  logical  studies  and  more  frequently 
in  lower  grades  than  in  the  higher.  To  be  specific : — An 
all-review  lesson  in  history  should  come  in  the  seventh- 
year  elementary  school  grade  at  least  every  two  weeks, 
and  in  a  third-year  high  school  grade,  at  least  every 
four  weeks.  An  all-review  lesson  in  grammar  need  not 
come  so  frequently. 

In  this  same  connection,  it  is  asked  whether  one  may 
wisely  devote  a  week  or  a  fortnight  to  all-review  work 
every  six  weeks  or  every  twelve  weeks  or  only  once  a 
year, — in  preparation  for  a  long  examination.  The  best 
practice  reviews  the  class  for  a  week  or  so  at  the  be- 
ginning of  each  term, — say,  each  half  year;  but  it  does 
not  require  the  same  length  of  review  for  each  subject. 
The  best  practice  does  not  examine  pupils, — in  the  old 
sense  of  trying  in  one  set,  exhausting  paper  to  find  out 
both  all  that  they  know  and  all  that  they  do  not  know, — 
at  any  period  in  their  course.  Despite  all  the  assevera- 
tions of  many,  a  tiling  of  this  kind  seldom  occurs  in 
real  hfe.  No  high  school  entrance  paper  should  con- 
sume over  an  hour  and  a  half  of  the  time  even  of 
slow  pupils;  and  each  paper  should  aim  to  take  less 
than  an  hour  of  average  pupils.  The  purpose  of  an 
entrance  test  is  to  sample  and  to  analyze,  not  to 
exhaust  a  pupil's  knowledge. 

Upon  repeated  tests  of  tens  of  thousands  of  pupils,  I 
have  generally  found  that  those  who  get  90  per  cent, 
upon  a  paper  of  twenty  spelling  words  get  90  per  cent, 
-upon  one  hundred  words.    Those  who  get  50  per  cent. 

87 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

upon  six  questions  in  arithmetic  get  50  per  cent, 
upon  ten  questions.  Examinations  alone  should  not 
govern  high  school  admission;  but  daily  work  and  the 
teacher's  own  estimate  of  power  to  go  forward  should 
be  mathematically  calculated  with  the  examinations. 

It  should  be,  in  every  city  school  system,  a  standard 
of  the  class-room  teachers'  opinions  to  control  and  limit 
the  authority  of  the  central  office  that  the  superintend- 
ent's and  supervisors'  examinations  should  never  affect 
the  pupil's  own  record  on  the  books  but  should  be 
solely  tests  of  the  teacher's  proficiency  and  guides  to 
the  higher  offices  in  how  to  help  him  or  her  improve  as 
a  teacher.  On  the  other  hand,  for  such  records,  the 
teacher  should  not  himself  or  herself  mark  his  or  h«r 
own  pupils'  papers.^ 

It  is  sometimes  set  up  as  an  argument  against  depart- 
ment teaching  in  grammar  classes  that  one  poor  dis- 
ciplinarian, going  to  several  classes,  can  spoil  the  work 
of  all  the  other  teachers.  The  answers  are  that,  as 
stated  above,^  two  teachers  for  two  classes  make  as 
extensive  a  specializing  as  sound  pedagogy  warrants 
and  that  no  poor  disciplinarian  should  survive  in  any 
kind  of  school  organization,  whether  department  or 
grade.  Poor  disciplinarians  are  destroyers  (tearers 
down)  of  children's  characters.  If  department  organi- 
zation tends  to  throw  a  searchlight  upon  poor  disci- 
plinarians, so  much  the  stronger  is  its  claim  upon  the 
approval  of  educators. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  whether  or  not  district  school 
teaching  is  harder  than  elementary  grade  teaching,  and 
grade  teaching  than  high  school  department  teaching, 
and  such  teaching  than  the  college  professor's  instruc- 

^  See  page  63,  above.  ^  Page  83. 


DEPARTMENT  TEACHING 

tion:  if  so,  why  does  tliis  mark  an  ascending  scale  in 
respect  to  teachers'  salaries, — rural  teachers  getting  the 
least  "pay"  and  professors  getting  most?  The  answers 
are  several.  First,  an  examination  of  the  statistical 
facts  shows  that  the  ascending  scale  is  by  no  means  uni- 
form,— is  indeed  partly  mythical.  Second,  money  is  a 
poor  and  faulty  measure  of  values, — the  dollar  has  no 
standard  purchasing  power.  It  buys  more  in  St.  Louis 
and  Memphis  than  in  New  York,  more  in  New  York  than 
in  Denver,  far  more  in  rural  Vermont  or  Virginia  than 
in  rural  Ohio  or  Colorado  or  Washington.  Third,  even 
if  the  scale  were  a  fact,  it  is  still  somewhat  true  that 
the  higher  the  money-return  of  an  employment, — as 
Aristotle  said,* — the  more  degrading  and  unfit  to  a  free- 
man is  that  employment.  In  short,  wages  and  com- 
pensation have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a  man's 
or  a  woman's  value  to  this  world.  Many  persons  get 
too  much  income  to  render  their  best  service.  Beyond 
a  doubt,  most  teachers  are  paid  far  too  little;  so  also 
are  many  preachers,  artists,  poets,  physicians,  inventors, 
authors,  statesmen. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  various  subjects  of  the  school 
curriculum  may  be  divided  into  the 

1.  New  and  not  generally  approved. 

2.  New  and  approved. 

3.  Standard. 

4.  Old  but  generally  approved. 

5.  Old  and  no  longer  generally  approved. 

'  Politics,  Book  VIII.  Lest  it  should  be  said  that  this  opinion  is 
valueless  because  "  Aristotle  was  only  a  bookish  philosopher,"  I 
venture  to  recall  for  consideration  here  the  fact  that  Aristotle  was  a 
practical  chemist  and  druggist,  keeping  a  pharmacy  in  Athens. 

89 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

In  this  connection,  it  is  profitable  to  notice  that  as 
district  schools  consolidate  into  union  schools,  as  grade 
teaching  gives  way  to  department  teaching,  as  common 
education  to  grammar  school  graduation  broadens  and 
lengthens  into  universal  education  to  liigh  school  gradua- 
tion, the  schools  discard  the  old  and  useless  topics  and 
subjects,  regenerate  the  standard  subjects,  and  add  the 
new  and  convert  them  into  educational  disciplines.  In 
other  words,  the  mechanism  described  in  tliis  chapter 
reveals  itself  as  the  means  by  wliich  the  spirit  of  prog- 
ress conquers  things  as  they  are  and  introduces  more 
of  the  things  that  should  be. 


"The  curiosity  of  children  is  a  natural  inclination  that 
goes  out  to  meet  instruction:  fail  not  to  take  advantage  of 
it.  Questions  are  openings  that  nature  offers  in  order  to 
facilitate  instruction:  express  pleasure  in  them.  Answer 
them,  and  add  little  comparisons  in  order  to  render  the 
answers  more  intelligible.  When  they  express  a  judgment 
of  something  without  knowing  it  well,  it  is  needful  to  em- 
barrass them  by  some  new  question,  in  order  to  make  them 
feel  their  error,  without  rudely  putting  them  to  confusion. 
Let  them  see,  by  some  practical  mark  of  esteem,  that  we 
approve  them  more  when  they  ask  what  they  do  not  know 
than  when  they  decide.  This  is  the  true  means  of  impart- 
ing to  their  minds,  with  politeness,  a  genuine  modesty,  and 
a  contempt  for  the  wranglings  that  are  so  common  with 
young  people  of  slight  intelligence." — Fenelon,  On  the 
Education  of  Girls.     1681. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    TEACHER    AS    INTERPRETER    OF    THE    COURSE 
OF    STUDY 

The  child's  world. — Qualities  requisite  in  the  teacher. — A  philoso- 
phy of  life.— j^re valence  of  one  temperament  among  teachers. — The 
dominant  importance  of  ideas. — A  philosophy  «f  knowledge. — TlT^g 
problem  of  the  adjustment  of  foreigners  to  Americanism. — The  unity 
of  mind. — Scholarship  and  conduct. — Ethical  versus  materialistic 
views  and  principles. 

ONE  who  lives  at  home,  on  the  street,  in  the  school- 
room, on  the  playground  so  intimately  with  chil- 
dren and  youth  as  to  discover  what  they  think,  learns 
that  to  them  the  school  means,  first  of  all,  the  teacher, 
and  next  the  playmates,  then  the  day's  work  with  its 
studies  and  exercises,  and  next  the  books  and  education- 
al apparatus,  again  the  supervisors  and  the  principal, 
and  last,  least,  and  often  scarcely  noticed,  the  books, 
equipment,  furniture,  and  building.  In  this,  the  school 
world  of  the  child,  the  teacher  and  the  playmates  are 
far  more  than  all  the  other  facts  of  the  school  environ- 
ment together.  Often,  the  school  world  is  of  far  greater 
interest  than  the  home  world:  this  is  commonly  true  of 
both  well-to-do  and  poor  children  in  cities.  The  school 
means  society  and  human  experience. 

It  is  difficult  indeed  for  an  adult  to  get  back  to  the 
child's  view  of  that  other  adult,  his  teacher.  And  yet 
until  one  who  would  comment  upon  the  teacher  does 

93 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

get  the  child's  view,  one's  comment  is  certain  to  miss  the 
mark.  One  may  indeed  be  firing  east  when  the  mark  is 
north. 

The  two  worlds  of  the  child, — his  home  and  his  school, 
— are  not  all  the  worlds  of  the  youth  at  school  and  at 
home.  The  youth  has  found  a  third  world, — adults. 
The  child  does  not  yet  know  adults.  He  respects  their 
existence,  though  they  are  not  a  part  of  his  life.  He 
does  not  view  his  mother  or  his  teacher  as  ''grown-ups," 
but  as  special  dispensations  of  Providence,  dowered  with 
omnipotence,  omniscience,  and  omnipresence  with  ref- 
erence to  him  and  his  concerns.  They  serve  him  in  lieu 
of  what  later  he  is  likely  to  know  as  "  conscience."  From 
them,  he  gets  both  his  echoes  and  his  social  reactions. 
In  this  sense,  his  mother  and  his  teacher  are  part  and 
parcel  of  himself. 

The  persons  of  a  child's  society  are  his  companions, 
the  other  chOdren.  The  dog  and  cat  are  not  merely 
"creatures,"  but  a  kind  of  individual,  sub-human  or 
sub-childish  or  semi-personal, — as  it  were,  the  ghosts  or 
shadows  or  similitudes  of  persons. 

That  is  a  sad  day  when  the  child  discovers, — from 
whatever  cause  or  act, — that  his  mother  or  his  teacher 
is  not  really  "perfect"  and  worthy  of  his  whole  faith. 
It  is,  of  course,  a  sad  day  for  any  one  to  learn  that  a 
friend  has  faults,  or  makes  mistakes,  or  is  guilty  of  sin. 
These  things  must  come  into  Hfe,  but  the  longer  the 
child  lives  in  the  paradise  of  trustfulness  the  better. 

It  is  exactly  this  attitude  of  the  cliild  toward  his 
teacher  that  condemns  at  once  three  several  acts  that 
are  occurring  every  day  in  some  American  school-rooms. 

The  faith  of  the  child  in  the  goodness  of  the  teacher 
is  rudely  broken  when  that  teacher  does  anything  in 

04 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

anger.  It  condemns  public  corporal  punishment.  The 
teacher  who  goes  about  rapping  the  knuckles  of  children, 
when  they  do  not  conform  to  her  notions,  sets  up  fear 
and  distrust  and  disapproval  in  the  souls  of  all  the 
members  of  her  class.  The  teacher  who  speaks  to  any 
pupils  in  sarcasm  or  in  any  other  tone  than  that  of  good- 
will is  a  traitor  to  the  repubhc  of  children  and  youth. 
The  teacher  who  reads  into  the  actions  of  children 
motives  of  which  children  are  incapable,  and  who  con- 
demns them  out  of  hand,  is  a  public  enemy  in  the  way 
to  make  criminals  and  social  outlaws. 

The  faith  of  the  child  in  the  competence  of  the  teacher 
is  attacked  when  a  supervisor  makes  any  public  criticism 
of  that  teacher.  It  does  not  always  follow  that  the 
teacher  herself  is  damaged  in  the  cliild's  mind,  but 
either  the  teacher  or  the  teacher  of  teachers,  the  super- 
visor, is  damaged.  This  affects  in  the  child's  mind  the 
authority  not  only  of  the  teacher  or  supervisor,  but  of 
the  school  itself,  the  social  institution  in  which  the 
teacher  and  the  child  are  living.  It  is  tliis  that  renders 
public  controversies  over  the  schools  so  unfortunate. 
The  child  hears  some  teacher  or  teachers  attacked,  and 
his  confidence,  which  is  to  him  the  breath  of  life,  is 
shaken  or  impaired. 

The  faith  of  the  child  in  the  worth  of  the  teacher  is 
diminished  by  every  error  that  she  makes  or  every 
absence  of  knowledge  that  she  displays  unless  the 
child,  who  has  his  own  kind  of  common  sense,  sees 
either  that  the  error  is  trivial  or  that  the  kind  of  knowl- 
edge is  beyond  the  ken  of  mankind  or  beyond  the  child's 
own  needs.  A  fourth  grade  teacher  who  makes  errors 
in  addition  or  multiphcation  or  spelling  causes  the  child 
to  feel  that  he  is  walking  in  quicksand;   but  the  same 

95 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

teacher  may  admit  freely  that  she  does  not  know,  for 
example,  the  child's  native  language  or  why  the  earth 
does  not  collide  with  the  sun  or  who  was  ''  the  Man  with 
the  Iron  Mask."  It  greatly  impairs  the  ability  of  the 
teacher  to  help  the  child  for  her  to  have  a  very  small 
vocabulary  and  range  of  expression.  A  supervisor  is 
Hkely  to  notice  this;  but  the  child,  who  does  not  notice 
it,  suffers  its  results.  A  deficiency  in  language  power 
deprives  one  from  being  intelligible  to  one's  Hsteners; 
and  many  a  school-room  suffers  m  consequence.  The 
child  does  notice  and  suffer  from  loss  of  confidence  in 
the  teacher  when  she  uses  slang  or  otherwise  offends 
against  liis  preconceived  notions  of  the  dignity  of  the 
teacher. 

Of  this  natural  reverence  of  the  child  for  the  teacher,  I 
have  observed  a  significant  item  of  evidence.  In  several 
cities,  it  has  been  the  custom  of  street-boys  to  "call 
after"  the  school-teachers.  I  never  knew  a  case  where 
even  the  rudest  of  these  boys  used  any  opprobrious 
terms  when  "  calHng  after"  teachers  whose  own  language 
and  manners  in  the  school-room  were  pleasant,  dignified, 
and  judicious. 

At  any  rate,  in  aU  normal  instances,  the  child  of  the 
primary  grades  reverences  the  teacher  as  an  oracle  and 
looks  upon  her  teaching  as  a  ministry  of  grace;  the  older 
boy  or  girl  of  the  higher  elementary  grades  respects  the 
teacher  as  a  good  and  wise  person,  glad  to  help  them. 
With  all  their  sopliistication,  the  youths  of  the  high 
school  are  apt  to  be  generous  in  the  judgment  of  their 
teachers,  and  to  err,  if  at  all,  on  the  side  of  too  great 
admiration  for  them.  All  children  know  that  but  few 
adults,  other  than  their  own  parents,  care  anything 
about  them;  and  most  of  them  are  grateful,  accordingly, 

9G 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

This  disposition  of  the  child  toward  the  teacher  gives 
to  her  such  power  over  him  as  almost  to  warrant  his 
behef  in  the  generous  extent  and  noble  quality  of  her 
greatness,  goodness  and  wisdom.  In  reference  to  him, 
the  teacher  is  important  beyond  the  importance  of  any 
other  person  at  any  time  in  his  life  excepting  only  his 
parents  and  sometimes  his  wife.  Through  her  eyes,  he 
looks  out  once  again  upon  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
and  lo!  they  are  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  and 
fomier  things  have  passed  away. 

To  the  learner,  the  teacher  interprets  knowledge  and 
life.  She  tells  liim  of  good  and  evil.  She  prescribes 
tliis  and  proscribes  that.  She  is  often  his  intellectual 
mother. 

To  interpret  is  to  explain,  to  make  plain.  Perhaps, 
literally  it  means  "to  set  the  price  of"  as  of  merchandise 
passing  between  seller  and  buyer.  The  teacher  sets  the 
prices  upon  the  various  articles  of  the  course  of  study. 
In  the  most  rigid  of  city  school  systems,  with  their 
elaborate  courses  of  study  and  syllabuses  of  planned 
work  to  carry  these  courses  out,  with  their  principals, 
department  heads,  specialists,  inspectors  and  board  of 
education  members,  to  see  that  these  courses  are  car- 
ried out,  with  their  pressure  of  public  opinion  through 
parents,  citizens,  taxpayers,  newspapers  upon  teachers 
to  do  this  assigned  and  expected  work,  and  with  their 
teachers  almost  uniformly  prepared,  in  the  same  grade, 
at  the  same  period  in  the  teim,  with  the  same  lesson 
before  them, — one  set  of  children  will  learn  one  set  of 
facts  with  one  body  of  opinions,  and  a  second  set  of 
children  a  second  set  of  facts  with  a  second  body  of 
opinions,  and  so  on  throughout  the  system  in  the  classes 
of  that  grade. 

97 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

Of  course,  the  varieties  of  topics  that  the  pupils  learn 
are  most  numerous  and  extreme  in  the  cases  of  the 
informational  studies,  next  in  the  psychological  exer- 
cises, next  in  the  logical  studies,  and  least  in  the  physio- 
logical exercises.  However  hard  they  might  try  to  do  so, 
no  two  teachers  could  give  the  same  courses  in  United 
States  History  or  in  English  Literature.  They  could  not 
give  exactly  the  same  course  even  in  calisthenics. 

What  a  teacher  most  of  all  teaches  in  the  year,  more 
or  less,  of  association  with  his  or  her  students  is  a 
philosophy  of  life.  It  may  be  a  crude,  an  inconsistent, 
an  incomplete  philosophy  of  life:  indeed,  it  probably  is. 
The  rational  and  sane  human  being  who  is  without  a 
philosophy  of  life  does  not  and  cannot  exist.  This 
philosophy  of  life,  so  far  as  it  is  unconscious,  is  the  re- 
sult of  his  temperament  and  issues  out  of  iiis  natural 
reactions  from  the  events  of  his  experience.  These 
events  of  his  experience  depend  in  part  upon  these  very 
reactions.  An  event  is  a  collision  of  forces.  In  the 
case  of  a  personal  experience,  the  event  consists  in  the 
collision  of  the  outer  forces  with  the  inner.  The  former 
are  not  under  the  control  of  the  individual,  the  latter 
are  the  individual's  own  nature,  whether  congenital  or 
acquired,  or  in  part  each.  Temperament,  then,  is  one 
factor  in  the  event,  and  temperament,  in  the  period  of 
reflection  upon  the  event,  helps  produce  the  pliilosophy 
of  it.  But  as  the  event  is  partly  a  matter  of  internal 
forces  and  partly  a  matter  of  external  forces,  so  also 
temperament  is  not  the  whole  matter  of  the  philosophy 
developed  in  the  period  of  reflection  upon  the  event. 
There  are  two  other  factors.  Of  these,  the  first  are  the 
notions  that  the  individual  had  accumulated  hitherto. 
These  notions  are  partly  due  to  the  environment  of  his 

98 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

life,  partly  to  the  original  temperament,  and  partly  to 
the  original  and  acquired  powers  of  the  individual. 

To  interpret  the  course  of  study,  the  teacher  needs  a 
profound  and  intimate  knowledge  both  of  the  society 
from  which  the  pupils  spring  and  of  the  nature  of  the 
hmnan  mind.  We  sometimes  call  these  things  "soci- 
olog}^''  and  ''psychology,"  but  these  terms  do  not  well 
serve  our  purpose,  for  they  seem  abstract  whereas  what 
is  intended  in  each  respect  is  entirely  concrete.  The 
teacher  needs  to  know  how  people  live,  the  causes  of 
prices,  wages,  rents,  interest,  taxes,  insurance,  credit 
and  debt, — the  curious  modern  manifestations  of  tribal, 
clan  and  family  relations,  gangs,  secret  clubs,  unions, 
conspiracies, — the  history  and  nature  of  the  farm,  the 
factory,  the  mine,  the  bank,  the  store.  Seeing  these 
facts  more  and  more  clearly  and  largely  every  day,  he 
will  see  that  the  cliild  is  a  product  (not  wholly  with 
verisimilitude  to  things  modern  but  rather  a  condensed 
and  revised  edition)  of  ancestral  lives  through  untold 
ages,  not  a  resultant  compound  but  a  selection  of  past 
forces.  Not  less  does  the  teacher  who  would  interpret 
the  course  of  study  in  terms  within  the  comprehension 
and  use  of  the  child  investigate  and  consider  the  in- 
ternal structure  of  this  heir  of  the  ages.  In  the  child, 
every  cell  has  ancestral  memories.  Considered  as  an 
object  of  study,  the  child  belongs  to  biology  as  well  as 
to  psychology  and  to  physiology.  The  teacher  who 
has  not  penetrated  into  that  holy  of  holies  of  knowledge 
wherein  he  sees  that  each  human  soul  is  not  only  a  per- 
son and  an  entity  but  also  an  unperfect  synthesis  of 
partly  inharmonious  items  of  mind  and  matter  is  a  long 
way  off  from  knowing  the  subject  to  whom  he  must 

interpret  the  course  of  study, 
s  99 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

The  teaching  oflBce  is  a  constant  command  to  learn 
yet  more  and  more. 

To  say  this  is  not  to  say  that  the  teacher  should  de- 
liberately aim  at  mastering  all  the  knowledge  that  bears 
upon  human  problems.  Such  mastery  is  hopelessly  be- 
yond any  modern  man  or  woman.*  Only  through 
thousands  of  different  students  can  the  race  now  hope 
to  keep  alive  all  that  men  to  this  time  have  garnered. 
But  the  purpose  to  keep  all  these  fields  of  knowledge 
witliin  one's  general  view,  to  compass  them  in  this  sense 
of  being  alive  to  their  meaning  and  of  being  intent  to 
use  their  meaning  for  educating  boys  and  girls,  is  within 
the  opportunity  and  is  part  of  the  duty  of  the  teacher. 
In  other  words,  it  is  a  part  of  the  profession  of  the 
teacher  to  know  and  to  be  able  to  handle  freely  all 
knowledge  of  definite  value  in  his  school  affairs. 

It  would  be  beyond  the  range  of  this  treatment  to 
indulge  here  in  exhaustive  reflections  upon  the  differ- 
ences of  individuals  in  temperament,  or  upon  their  dif- 
ferences in  home  environment,  in  economic  condition,  in 
social  relations,  in  religion,  in  all  that  goes  to  make  up  the 
location  of  one  in  the  world,  or  upon  their  differences  in 
powers.  In  respect  to  the  last  feature  of  mankind,  all 
attempts  at  quantitative  measurements  have  failed.  We 
know  that  one  has  a  psychical  rate  five  times  as  fast  as 
another,  that  one  can  see  three  things  in  a  given  field, 
while  another  may  see  seven,  that  one  person  can  hear 
ten  items  consecutively  and  remember  them,  and  an- 
other hear  fifty,  that  one  can  retain  in  the  memory  with 
great  accuracy  and  fo   long  periods,  while  another  errs 

*  For  a  bibliography  of  knowledge  as  it  concerns  teachers,  see     i 
Chancellor's  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals  and  Values  in  Education. 
Appendix. 

100 


THE   TEACHER   AS    INTERPRETER 

immediately  on  simple  matters,  that  one  person  has 
good  judgment,  another  but  poor  judgment,  that  one 
strikes  often  and  lightly  while  another  strikes  slowly 
and  heavily. 

Also,  it  would  be  beyond  the  range  of  this  treatment 
to  discuss  the  differences  in  the  outward  social  graces, 
in  voice,  in  attentiveness  and  consideration  and  kind- 
ness, in  taste  as  to  dress,  in  the  thousand  and  one  things 
that  go  to  make  up  personality. 

These  are  differences  in  motives,  in  ideals,  in  sense  of 
values  in  life. 

But  it  is  higlily  appropriate  to  make  a  few  brief  state- 
ments as  to  some  prevailing  conditions  in  our  public 
schools.  Nearly  all  teachers,  both  men  and  women, 
are  of  one  temperament,  either  in  its  simple  form  or 
mixed  or  compounded  with  other  temperaments.  Nearly 
all  are  nervous  or  ideo-motor.  Nearly  all  are  quick, 
impulsive,  active,  eager,  industrious,  idealistic,  ambi- 
tious, conscientious,  sentimental,  emotional  by  nature. 
They  have  inevitably  the  defects  of  their  qualities.  The 
tendency  of  the  quick  is  to  be  impatient  with  the  slow, 
of  the  impulsive,  to  consider  the  reflective  as  cold,  of 
the  active  to  underestimate  the  usefulness  of  the  thought- 
ful, of  the  eager  to  assume  that  their  eagerness  is  always 
a  virtue,  of  the  industrious  to  chscount  the  value  of  the 
leisurely  (and  it  may  be  even  of  the  lazy)  in  the  throb- 
bing social  life  of  cities  and  in  the  gossip  and  fret  of  the 
towns  and  open  country,  of  the  idealistic  to  miscon- 
ceive the  function  of  the  realistic  and  materialistic,  of  the 
ambitious  to  look  down  upon  the  contented,  of  the  con- 
scientious to  fail  to  see  that  the  conscience  of  the  motor  in- 
dividual is  necessarily  a  different  thing  from  the  conscience 
of  the  sedentary,  of  the  sentimental  to  fail  to  consider 

101 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

tliat  the  matter-of-fact  may  really  be  alive  though 
they  do  not  feel  quickly,  and  of  the  emotional  to  fail  to 
understand  tlie  uses  of  the  calm.  It  is  quite  beside  the 
mark  to  deplore  the  situation  whereby  it  has  come  to 
pass  that  the  schools  are  monopolized  by  the  men  and 
women  of  motor-efficiency,  and  nervous  motor  at  that, 
whereas  on  the  whole  ours  is  a  muscular-motor  people, 
constantly  being  recruited  from  the  muscular-motor 
peasantry  of  Europe.  All  that  we  can  well  do  in  the 
situation  is  to  call  attention  to  two  several  facts, — 
(1)  that  no  temperament  has  any  monopoly  of  the  vir- 
tues, though  each,  until  corrected,  is  wont  to  assume 
that  its  own  qualities  are  the  virtues,  and  (2)  that  no 
temperament  has  any  monopoly  of  ability  and  capacity, 
though  each  temperament  is  wont  to  assume  that  its 
powers  are  those  of  the  highest  order. 

It  is  peculiarly  hard  for  the  nervous  motor  teachers 
of  our  schools  to  learn  universal  sympathy.  It  is  like- 
wise hard  for  them  to  learn  to  acquire  the  patience  that 
gives  the  "dull"  muscular-motor  and  corpulent- vital 
children  time  to  summon  their  wits  and  to  answer  to  the 
best  of  their  ability.  Many  and  many  a  boy  and  girl  is 
misjudged  because  the  teachers  are  not  wise  enough  to 
see  their  fundamental  natures.  Moreover,  these  same 
nervous  teachers  are  sometimes  impatient  with  children 
of  their  own  type.  It  is  well  for  all  of  us  to  remember 
that  education  is  in  part  the  thorough  and  permanent 
acquirement,  without  hypocrisy,  of  some  virtues  of 
temperaments  not  our  own. 

By  reason  of  these  nervous  temperaments,  it  follows 
that  few  of  our  teachers  nourish  long  and  great  resent- 
ments, few  waste  much  time,  few  are  cold  and  distant, 
few  are  slow  and  dull,  few  are  unpunctual  or  dilatory 

102 


THE   TEACHER    AS   INTERPRETER 

or  ineffective,  few  are  victims  of  any  physical  vices,  few 
are  pedants  or  bookish  or  out  of  touch  with  reahty. 
But  it  is  characteristic  of  this  temperament  not  to 
accumulate  great  reservoirs  of  vital  reserve,  not  to  be 
well  and  strong  and  at  ease.  The  temperament  is  ex- 
plosive, and  easily  exploded  at  that.  It  is  executive 
and  not  judicial.  It  is  also  a  law-making  temperament 
because  to  establish  laws  is  thereafter  to  save  thought 
and  to  permit  action.  It  is  also  a  temperament 
greatly  inclined  to  tradition,  for  tradition  also  saves 
thought  and  permits  action.  It  greatly  esteems  habit, 
for  habit  gives  freedom. 

Obviously,  such  a  temperament  is  peculiarly  adapted 
to  school-teaching. 

A\Tien  itself  tempered  by  a  truly  feminine  nature,  and 
when  it  characterizes  a  person  of  considerable  natural 
ability,  the  ideo-motor  temperament  helps  make  the 
ideal  primary  teacher.  The  person  is  vivacious, 
kind,  quick,  affable,  responsive,  and  has  many  other 
traits  admirably  adapting  her  to  care  for  small  chil- 
dren. 

But  temperament  is  by  no  means  all  of  life  and  con- 
duct. In  a  certain  sense,  the  older  one  gets,  and  cer- 
tainly the  wiser  one  gets,  the  more  one  outgrows  one's 
native  temperament.  Even  the  limitations  of  it  are 
overcome.  Consequently,  superficial  readers  of  human 
nature,  who  profess  to  know  what  a  person  is  like  as 
soon  as  they  see  him,  are  often  greatly  misled.  In  a 
certain  sense,  ideas  are  far  more  important  than  tem- 
perament, the  only  qualification  being  that  tempera- 
ment causes  one  rather  persistently  to  reject  opposing 
kinds  of  ideas.  Here  we  come  to  one  of  the  more  im- 
portant principles  of  education,  that  the  teacher  often 

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CLASS   TEACHING  AND    MANAGEMENT 

should  persist  in  that  definite  training  of  a  learner  which 
ho  most  resists. 

In  fact,  this  is  education, — to  make  to  come  forth 
from  the  educatee  qualities  that  are  not  likely  to  appear 
but  for  and  because  of  compulsion. 

The  first  thing  that  the  teacher  is  to  recognize  in 
dealing  with  younger  human  beings  is  that  they  are 
now  to  see  the  world  through  his  eyes.  The  course  of 
study  constitutes  a  panorama  of  views  of  the  world. 
Its  pictures  move  slowly  or  rapidly  as  the  teacher  moves 
them.  The  very  moods  in  which  the  onlookers  observe 
the  pictures  are  largely  the  making  of  the  mover  of  the 
panorama.  These  moods  are  matters  of  the  adjust- 
ments of  the  various  temperaments  of  the  teacher  and 
of  the  pupils.  The  panorama  may  move  very,  very 
slowly,  but  it  cannot  stop,  and  it  cannot  be  reversed, 
for  the  process  of  time  is  irreversibly  forward.  The  rate 
can  be  greatly  varied,  or  it  may  be  made  monotonously 
the  same.  Some  pupils  are  all  the  time  losing  some 
picture  of  the  panorama.  None  observes  them  all.  To 
announce  "Same  lesson  to-morrow"  is  only  juggling 
with  terms,  for  there  are  no  "same  lessons"  in  life,  not 
even  in  school-life.  Even  review  lessons  and  tests  are 
in  part  advance  work.  In  them,  one  sees  more  of  the 
panorama,  by  climbing  higher.  Often,  and  often  in  the 
review,  one  learns  more  of  what  is  really  to  oneself 
new  material  than  in  any  advance  lesson.  But  what 
one  sees  is  largely  what  the  teacher  points  out. 

Secondly,  in  interpreting  the  course  of  study,  the 
teacher  needs  constantly  to  keep  in  mind  the  great  units 
of  the  relation  of  its  subject-matter.  What  the  child 
sees  are,  as  it  were,  disjecta  membra,  scattered  limbs. 
Even  in  liigh  school  and  college  what  the  youth  sees  are 

104 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

but  regions  of  knowledge  rather  than  wholes.  These 
relations  are  not  to  be  taught  to  the  pupils;  but  they 
must  nevertheless  not  be  lost  sight  of  by  the  teacher, 
for  they  give  coherence  and  lucidity  to  his  teaching. 

Y 

To  illustrate: — That  interest  is  but  a  higher  mode  of 
percentage,  percentage  but  a  mode  of  fractions,  fractions 
a  mode  of  ratio,  ratio  a  mode  of  division,  and  division 
a  mode  of  subtraction,  which  last  by  paradox  is  a 
mode  of  counting  or  adding  the  unit, — all  this  does 
not  greatly  concern  even  a  bookkeeper  in  charge  of 
accounts  and  certainly  is  beyond  the  needs  of  the  primary 
child;  but  the  teacher  needs  to  see  these  and  even  more 
extensive  relations  of  quantity  and  number  in  order  to 
follow  the  true  order  and  method  and  to  interpret  correctly 
the  errors  of  the  learners.  In  such  a  subject  as  history,  the 
teacher  must  know  all  the  great  movements  in  their  causes 
and  chronology  and  comparative  relations  in  order  not  to 
be  puzzled  himself  by  the  events  that  he  discusses  with  his 
class.  It  may  indeed  be  that  only  a  few  of  the  facts  thus 
assembled  will  ever  be  actually  required  in  his  class  teach- 
ing,— that  the  knowledge  does  not  often  save  him  from  con- 
fessing ignorance  to  his  young  pupils, — but  this  is  not  so 
much  the  principle  in  issue  as  that  to  keep  his  class  in  the 
historic  track,  one  must  himself  know  both  the  track  itself 
and  its  place  in  universal  and  comparative  history.  To  be 
specific:  We  can  hardly  expect  our  elementary  school 
children  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  slavery  question 
as  adults  understand  it ;  but  the  teacher  who  does  not  know 
that  behind  the  slavery  issue  were  ages-old  ancestral  tradi- 
tions of  slavery  and  the  primitive  dislike  of  work  con- 
fronted by  a  new  social  order  of  free  wage-labor  and  a  new 
sense  of  the  dignity  of  labor  as  a  means  of  ambition  is  cer- 
tain to  misinterpret  much  of  what  both  Douglas  and  Lincoln, 
both  Calhoun  and  the  New  England  poets  said  about  slavery. 

105 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

Third,  to  interpret  the  course  of  study,  the  teacher 
needs  a  philosophy  of  knowledge.  It  is  not  enough  to 
have  a  philosophy  of  personal  conduct  and  thorough 
and  complete  knowledge  of  the  subjects  to  be  taught. 
One  recjuires  also  an  understanding  of  the  relations  of 
the  great  subjects  of  thought  and  science  to  one  another. 
That  arithmetic  is  the  working  tool  of  all  science  and 
also  of  all  economic  relations  among  men,  that  geog- 
raphy explains  the  physical  basis  of  history  and  history 
tells  the  significance  of  geography,  that  reading  and 
language  are  the  gateways  to  all  human  intercourse 
upon  the  plane  of  ideas,  that  biology  is  the  key  to 
physiology  and  physiology  the  key  to  psychology  and 
psychology  in  turn  the  key  to  philosophy  are  a  few  of 
the  simplest  facts  in  a  philosophy  of  knowledge.  One 
needs  never  to  allude  to  them  in  an  elementary  class- 
room, but  one  who  is  constantly  in  such  a  class-room 
needs  to  have  a  mind  that  organizes  its  actual  teaching 
output  and  conducts  the  discipline  of  the  pupils  in  the 
light  of  just  these  facts.  It  is  quite  beyond  the  range 
of  this  treatment  to  present  a  philosophy  of  knowledge, 
but  it  is  highly  appropriate  to  say  here  that  one  who  in- 
tends adequately  to  interpret  the  course  of  study  to 
children  will  constantly  throughout  life  endeavor  to 
get  clearer  and  larger  views  of  the  interrelations  of  the 
knowledge-units  afforded  by  the  great  forms  and  modes 
of  thought,  such  as  time,  space,  cause-and-effect,  rela- 
tion, quality,  quantity,  force,  motion,  beauty,  necessity, 
duty,  and  life.  To  weave  together  the  strands  of  all  the 
class-room  activities  into  the  texture  of  living  mind,  the 
teacher  needs  himself  to  make  of  the  warp,  woof  and  nap 
of  his  own  knowledge  a  true  cloth. 

To  promote  this  harmony  of  his  own  powers  and  to 

106 


THE   TEACHER   AS    INTERPRETER 

offset  some  of  the  disintegrating  influences  of  associa- 
tion with  immature  minds,  the  teacher  needs  to  keep 
dihgently  in  the  way  of  association  through  books  with 
the  best  minds  of  the  race  in  their  products  of  poetry, 
drama,  essay,  fiction,  science,  pliilosophy,  history,  and 
in  the  way  of  companionship  with  the  ablest  adults  of 
his  community.  This  is  far  more  necessary  for  the 
class  teacher  than  for  the  super\'isory  officers  who  are 
one  or  more  removes  from  direct  contact  with  children. 
In  fact,  for  the  supervisory  officers,  precisely  the  oppo- 
site caution  is  necessary,  for  what  they  need  most  is  to 
try  to  get  into  touch  with  the  children  for  whom  all 
their  plans  are  provided  and  whose  nature  they  need 
to  know  and  to  feel  constantly. 

As  interpreter  of  the  course  of  study  to  young  persons, 
the  teacher  needs  to  know  specifically  certain  items  of 
sufficient  importance  to  be  enimierated  here.  They 
are  all  involved  in  the  foregoing  generalizations;  but 
lest  they  be  lost  sight  of,  I  enumerate  them.  Perhaps 
others  are  of  equal  importance,  but  none  can  be  of 
greater  importance  than  some  that  follow  here,  or  are 
included  above. 

First,  life  is  a  process,  not  a  status;  a  flood,  not  a 
pool.'  It  is  in  part  a  physical  process,  with  marked 
stages.  It  is  a  process  of  adjustment  of  inner  forces 
impinging  upon  and  being  impinged  upon  by  external 
forces.  These  inner  forces  may  be  considered  as  the 
heritages  from  past  ancestry.  Few  of  them  are  in  evi- 
dence at  birth:   they  keep  coming  in  every  day  in  later 

'  Nature  is  being  born.  Life  is  growth, — being  exists  only  as 
becoming.  Nothing  now  is,  but  everything  is  coming  to  be. — See 
Weber,  History  of  Philosophy,  on  Hegel,  p.  502.  (Thilly,  trans- 
lator.) 

107 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

life.  This  is  especially  notable  at  adolescence  when  in 
four  or  five  cases  in  twenty  the  child  who  has  been  like 
some  maternal  (or  paternal)  ancestor  swings  across  into 
the  likeness  of  a  more  or  less  opposite  paternal  (or  in 
the  other  instance  maternal)  ancestor.  One  suspects 
that  some  lines  of  cells  atrophy  while  other  lines  come 
vigorously  into  action.  The  outer  forces  include  cli- 
mate, housing,  labor,  food,  clothing,  hours  and  condi- 
tions of  sleep,  air,  bathing,  economic  ease  or  anxiety, 
and  similar  matters. 

Life  is  mainly  a  psychical  process,  likewise  with 
marked  stages.  This  also  is  a  process  of  adjustment  of 
inner  forces, — aptitudes,  dislikes,  resistances, — imping- 
ing upon  and  being  impinged  upon  by  external  forces. 
Each  stage  in  the  adjustment  of  notions  and  habits  is 
either  a  victory,  a  defeat  or  a  compromise  between  the 
character, — intelligence,  efficiency,  morality, — of  the  in- 
dividual and  the  ideas  that  came  before  him.  From 
the  day  of  his  birth  to  that  of  his  death,  a  man  is  his 
reaction,  that  is,  his  temperament.  But  this  ''  reaction  " 
or  "temperament"  is  not  a  fixed  mould  but  a  fluid 
condition. 

Second,  each  soul  is  free,  to  a  certain  undeniable  ex- 
tent. Each  soul  can  withhold  its  action,  can  elect  to 
do  nothing.  One  cannot  create  his  ^environment,  but 
one  can  (1)  resist  it,  if  need  be  to  death,  or  (2)  reconcile 
oneself  to  it  or  (3)  do  nothing. 

This  truth  is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  teaching. 
It  is  the  touchstone  to  test  the  educability  and  the 
virtue  of  the  child.  The  nature  of  liis  freedom, — of  his 
choice  in  the  presence  of  opportunity, — constitutes  the 
limits  of  the  educability  of  a  pupil.  In  this  sense, 
education  is  a  moral  issue  rather  than,  intellectual.   And 

108 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

the  teachers  of  the  world  so  proclaim  it,  everywhere 
asserting  that  industry  is  more  than  a  substitute  for 
talent  since  industry  produces  talent.  In  the  sense  in 
which  teachers  use  this  term  "industry/' — or  its  equiva- 
lents in  other  languages, — it  means  the  free  will  that 
chooses  to  undergo  pain  and  fatigue  and  deprivation  of 
ease  and  of  pleasure  in  order  to  pursue  ideals  and  to 
effect  changes  in  one's  own  nature. 

Third,  modern  society  is  a  vast  complex  that  may 
be  analyzed  as  in  part  institutional,  in  part  dynamic, 
in  part  factional  and  in  part  individual.  The  great 
social  institutions  are  property,  family,  religion,  occupa- 
tion, government,  education,  amusement,  charity,  busi- 
ness, and  war.  These  institutions  are  social  habits 
affecting  the  general  welfare  so  strongly  as  to  compel 
the  unquestioning  support  of  nearly  all  individuals. 
The  dynamic  factors  of  a  modern  civilized  society  are 
its  associations  and  movements,  such  as  parties,  causes, 
reforms.  Institutions  are  conservative,  movements  are 
progressive.  Clan  and  tribal  tradition  and  habits  per- 
sist into  modern  life  in  many  forms  and  modes  — such  as 
cliques,  conspiracies,  secret  societies  and  clubs,  the 
factions  between  parties,  the  boss  and  the  gang.  Lastly, 
we  have  the  individuals,  of  whom  some  are  blessings  to 
community  and  nation  and  some  are  curses.  These  in- 
dividuals live,  work,  play,  seemingly  alone.  Some  are 
men  of  genius :  some  are  criminals. 

It  is  necessary  clearly  to  see  that  institutions,  move- 
ments, factions  and  individuals  cannot  all  be  classed 
as  "good"  or  "bad."  In  some  respects,  some  of 
them  are  bad  or  pernicious,  others  are  good  or 
benevolent;  and  still  others  apparently  are  indiffer- 
ent. 

109 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

To  illustrate : — It  will  not  serve  the  cause  of  historic  truth 
or  the  further  progress  of  the  race  to  assert  as  many  now  do 
that  ''war  is  evil,"  and  that  "peace  is  good."  War  is  often 
the  price  of  righting  wrongs, — a  purification  by  blood  and 
death.  Peace  nourishes  both  wheat  and  tares:  a  society 
long  peaceful  is  always  corrupt  and  overtolerant  of  cor- 
niption.  Peace  invariably  organizes  hypocrisy.  In  a 
world  of  peace,  men  become  mummers.  In  a  world  of  war, 
they  become  frank  and  real,  whereby  the  sheep's  clothing 
is  torn  from  the  wolf.  And  yet  war  is  worse,  both  peace 
and  war  being  alternately  necessary  until  the  end. 
— Daniel  ix  :  26. 

To  illustrate  again : — Education  is  not  always  the  greatest 
of  blessings  to  an  individual.  (I  am  using  education  here 
not  in  its  philosophical  sense  but  popularly.)  The  actual 
education  of  many  a  boy  has  been  a  training  in  the  hy- 
pocrisy of  assuming  a  virtue  when  one  has  it  not. 

We  may  well  note  that  many  social  movements  are 
retrogressive  and  calculated  to  reproduce  former  condi- 
tions wliich  the  society  had  outgrown.  Though  the 
proposition  is  not  universally  true  that  revivals  of  past 
conditions  are  always  unfortunate,  the  historical  ex- 
ceptions are  few  until  the  time  when  a  society  turns 
down  grade  and  general  deterioration  has  set  in.  Teach- 
ers as  well  as  all  other  citizens  may.  wisely  view  with 
suspicion  all  social  movements  whose  engineering  pro- 
ceeds from  persons  but  recently  come  from  Europe.  In 
his  transformation  into  an  American  citizen,  the  Hun- 
garian peasant,  the  German  soldier,  the  French  bour- 
geois, and  the  English  mechanic  sometimes  try  to  im- 
pose monarchical,  feudal  or  tribal  conceptions  of  class 
and  mass  upon  our  democracy. 

To  be  specific  in  this  connection:    Nothing  is  more 

110 


THE   TEACHER   AS    INTERPRETER 

important  in  American  life  than  the  independence  and 
entire  separation  of  Church  and  State,  government  and 
rehgion.  So  higlily  regarded  by  most  Americans  is  this 
principle  that  the  general  tendency  in  most  States  is  to 
extend  it  to  the  independence  and  separation  as  far  as 
possible  of  State  and  School,  government  and  education, 
or  more  plainly  politics  and  teaching. 

Again  to  specify:  According  to  modern  psychology, 
the  mind  is  one  life,  manifesting  itself  in  various  forms 
and  modes, — in  "faculties"  or  facilities,  in  single  actions 
or  ideas,  judgments,  endeavors  or  in  series  of  actions 
or  habits,  purposes,  intentions, — in  other  words,  in 
functionings  either  central  or  peripheral.  That  mind  is 
not  yet  well-educated  which  seems  to  have  ''compart- 
ments" with  no  intercommunicating  doors,  which  is 
inconsistent,  disorderly,  irregular,  which  does  not  go 
steadily  and  gradually  toward  some  goal  but  flits  about 
purposelessly  or  rushes  hither  and  thither  hop-skip-and- 
jump.  That  teacher  does  best  who  takes  such  a  prin- 
ciple as  that  above  regarding  the  freedom  of  government 
from  ecclesiastical  relations  and  the  freedom  of  religion 
from  political  relations  and  uses  it  judiciously  both  in 
his  history-teaching  and  in  his  own  conduct  toward  all 
others  including  his  pupils.  Such  is  the  concrete  mean- 
ing,— in  a  single  phase, — of  the  unity  of  mind.  What  is 
the  value  of  knowing  arithmetic  unless  one  who  is 
employed  and  in  good  health  can  keep  one's  own  finan- 
cial affairs  solvent? 

The  teacher  as  interpreter  of  the  course  of  study 
should  be  an  example,  a  model,  an  exemplar,  both  of 
the  scholarship  implied  in  the  course  and  of  the  con- 
duct appropriate  in  the  scholar.     To  the  mind  of  the 

child,  perhaps  these  two  qualities  become  most  evident 

111 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

in  two  specific  phases, — scholarship  in  the  sense  of  ac- 
curate information  in  reply  to  the  questions  so  common 
upon  the  lips  of  children,  and  conduct  in  the  sense  of 
fulfilling  those  duties  which  are  so  often  the  subject  of 
a  teacher's  homilies. 

The  teacher  who  does  not  know  how  to  answer  in 
detail  such  questions  as  "I  thought  that  the  Mississippi 
was  the  biggest  river  in  the  world,  isn't  it?";  or  "Oh, 
is  Longfellow  dead!  When  did  he  die?";  or  "What 
use  is  this  algebra,  anyway?";  or  "Please  tell  me  the 
meaning  of  'feudal'?", — the  questions  are  legion, — not 
only  loses  an  opportunity,  occasionally  priceless,  to  feed 
an  inquiring  mind  but  loses  also  some  measure,  however 
small,  of  the  confidence  that  every  small  human  being 
instinctively  places  in  the  authorities. 

But  the  ethical  aspects  of  this  matter  are  yet  more 
important.  We  demand  of  adults  certain  virtues,  many, 
though  not  all  of  them,  beginning  in  early  childhood. 
The  moral  growth  may  perhaps  be  expressed  in  these 
stages: — Children  obey  persons,  youth  obey  maxims, 
young  men  and  women  obey  principles,  and  mature  men 
reason,  in  each  stage  realizing  thereby  the  highest 
morality  within  their  possibilities.  When  children  try 
to  obey  maxims,  they  get  into  just  as  much  trouble  as 
when  they  refuse  from  whim  and  caprice  to  obey  the 
direct  and  specific  orders  of  persons.  At  the  other  and 
liigher  reach  of  the  moral  scale,  for  grown  man  to  apply 
principles  rigidly  is  often  to  fail  of  the  better  morality. 
He  must  reason  and  adjust  principles  to  conditions,  even 
though  to  narrower  and  less  experienced  men  he  seems 
to  violate  some  one  principle.  But  is  there  no  highest 
quality  that  is  invariably  right?  Undoubtedly,  but  it 
is  a  quality  that   is  largely  rational    and    not    often 

112 


THE   TEACHER   AS   INTERPRETER 

prescriptive  of  details, — honor  or  loyalty.  In  the  con- 
flict of  the  good  qualities,  the  lower  must  always  give 
place  to  the  higher  within  the  range  of  the  individual's 
age-limitations;  and  virtue  consists  not  in  being  good 
but  in  becoming  better.  We  decry  the  "school-boy 
honor"  that  causes  him  to  conceal  the  derelictions 
of  his  fellows,  because  honor  in  tliis  instance  is  a 
barrier  to  the  enforcement  of  special  rights.  To  be 
specific:  In  my  own  experience,  a  high  school  during 
a  session  was  set  on  fire  by  a  senior  pupil  to  con- 
ceal the  theft  of  a  valuable  microscope.  It  took  the 
authorities  two  weeks  to  break  down  in  that  school  the 
silence  imposed  upon  all  tongues  by  "school-boy  honor" 
and  to  discover  who  set  the  building  on  fire,  and  why. 
The  culprit  was  then  placed  for  a  term  in  an  asylum 
for  the  criminal  insane  upon  the  recommendation  of 
competent  alienists.  Of  course,  with  an  incendiary 
about,  no  life  was  safe  in  that  school.  It  does  not  fol- 
low that  such  honor  is  invariably  to  be  broken  down, 
for  it  is  the  "mother"  of  a  later  honor  that  is  righteous 
and  necessary. 

The  great  word  of  morals  is  "duty,"  and  duty  is  noth- 
ing but  obedience  to  the  authority  that  the  person  should 
recognize  at  his  age.  The  highest  duty  of  the  full- 
grown  man  is  to  follow  his  own  best  j  udgment,  all  tilings 
considered,  which  literally  involves  trying  to  consider 
all  things,  including  whatever  may  appear  to  be  "  the 
will  of  God."  But  the  highest  duty  of  the  small  child  is 
promptly  to  do  what  his  mother  at  home  or  his  teacher 
at  school  orders  liim  to  do. 

In  the  course  of  study  of  the  elementary  school,  there 
is  one  subject  greatly  concerned  with  the  defining  of 
one  of  man's  highest  duties,  patriotism;  and  this  study 

113 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

is  American  history.  The  scorn  that  men  of  the  genera- 
tion of  the  Civil  War  felt  for  those  who  stayed  at  home 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  when  the  life  of  one's  nation  is 
at  stake,  one  has  no  right  to  stay  at  home  even  to  pro- 
vide sii))port  for  wife  and  children.  To  our  country  and 
its  institutions,  each  one  of  us  owes  life  itself  in  the 
literal  sense,  for  our  country  provides  the  relations  of 
property,  business  and  marriage  whence  each  one  of 
us  issues.  Our  country  gives  us  being  and  maintains 
us.  It  is  our  father  and  our  mother.  It  is  a  matter 
of  duty  to  the  teacher  of  elementary  children  in  higher 
grades  and  the  high  school  teacher  to  teach,  and  quite 
within  the  comprehension  of  such  children  and  youth 
to  learn,  the  meaning  of  patriotism  in  times  of  peace 
and  in  times  of  war.  One  of  the  great  deficiencies  of 
the  American  character  is  the  unwillingness  of  the  so- 
called  ''better  class"  of  citizens  to  serve  their  country 
in  public  office  in  times  of  peace.  Such  citizens  usually 
allege  "pressure  of  private  business"  or  "too  great  sen- 
sitiveness to  criticism,"  forgetting  that  salaries  of  public 
oflficers  should  be  small,  so  as  to  secure  the  services  of 
the  unmercenary  and  patriotic  and  to  exclude  others, 
or  forgetting  that  the  sense  of  doing  public  duty  bravely 
is  one  of  the  finest  qualities  of  human  nature.  One 
of  the  beautiful  things  about  teaching  is  that  it  is 
a  non-mercenary  occupation,  providing  only  a  liveli- 
hood and  seldom  a  generous  one  at  that.  It  may  indeed 
be  that  the  teacher  is  underpaid  and  should  receive  a 
more  generous  living,  but  no  wise  man  desires  to  see 
teaching  in  public  schools  (or  any  other  office  of  our 
democracy)  an  occupation  of  profit.  Upon  the  lips  of 
teachers,  therefore,  the  inculcation  of  the  duty  of  un- 
selfish patriotism  is  appropriate. 

114 


THE   TEACHER  AS   INTERPRETER 

Since  the  teacher  is  conspicuously  the  person  who 
teaches  and  practices  in  a  democracy, — side  by  side  with 
the  soldier,  the  policeman,  the  fireman,  and  the  govern- 
ment clerk, — the  quieter  duties  of  patriotism,  it  is  proper 
for  him  to  consider  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the 
individual  to  the  secret  societies,  the  factions  and  clans 
that  persist  into  modern  life.  These  concern  women 
but  little,  though  they  concern  men  greatly.  Only  the 
Chinese  Empire  has  more  of  this  secret  and  factional 
life  than  has  the  American  Republic.  Strong  central 
governments  never  tolerate  such  organizations  freely. 
The  peace  of  the  past  forty-five  years  has  permitted  the 
multiplication  of  all  these  kinds  of  societies.  Whether 
or  not  they  tend  to  the  more  liberal  humanity  that  is 
the  order  of  the  time  to  come  must,  in  each  instance,  be 
inquired  into  as  a  matter  of  fact,  but  so  much  as  this 
the  teacher  should  inculcate  and  exemplify  that  he 
should  encourage  only  such  secret  clubs  and  divisive 
factions  as  he  believes  surely  help  forward  the  general 
welfare. 

There  is  a  fine  materialism,  elegant  and  often  fascinat- 
ing, that  is  just  as  dangerous  to  the  best  life  of  the 
teacher  as  is  the  gross  materialism  that  is  so  plain  in 
most  of  the  affairs  and  concerns  of  our  present  stupen- 
dous civilization.  The  delightful  materialism,  on  its 
surface,  appears  conducive  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
spirit.  It  draws  attention  to  the  machinery  of  educa- 
tion,— to  finer  buildings  and  more  commodious,  to  larger 
salaries  and  to  better  tenure  of  office,  to  more  artistic 
methods  of  teaching,  to  travel  and  to  culture;  and  it 
says, — Seek  these  things;  for  when  you  have  them,  you 
will  be  able  to  do  better  work  as  teachers,  for  you  will 
be  happier,  wiser  and  healthier.    And  when  we  have 

9  115 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

them,  so  we  will,  so  we  will,  if — if  we  do  not  seek  them 
at  all.  For  the  words  of  Jesus  are  literally  true,  "Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  its  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  will  be  added  unto  you."  It  is  literally 
not  worth  while  to  have  them, — they  will  be  but  vexa- 
tion of  spirit, — until  they  have  come  as  results  of  seek- 
ing things  that  are  in  themselves  worth  while, — peace 
and  truth  and  order  and  aspiration,  the  approval  of  the 
best,  for  a  daily  life  of  patience,  moderation,  industry, 
and  interest  in  the  welfare  of  others. 

A  course  of  study  is  essentially  a  spiritual  thing:  it 
is  concerned  with  a  man's  inner  and  real  life.  Between 
the  man  who  knows  such  an  inner  life — ^who  is  religious 
— and  the  man  who  cares  for  the  outer  life — who  is 
materialistic — there  has  been  and  forever  will  be  war. 
Both  men  fight  within  nearly  every  one  of  us.  In  this 
sense,  that  teacher  is  a  true  interpreter  of  the  course  of 
study,  who  lives  in  such  fashion  and  speaks  in  such 
language  that  all  men  and  all  children  see  that  he  knows 
upon  which  side  ultimately  and  of  right  the  battle  always 
goes.  For  in  the  dialectic  of  history,  the  nation  of  ideas, 
the  religious  people  always  wins  fairly  enough  to  trans- 
mit its  ideas  to  the  civilization  that  lies  ahead.  And  in 
the  dialectic  of  individual  lives,  the  final  victory,  the 
ultimate  triumph  necessarily  rests  with  that  man  in  us 
who  knows  that  "the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies" 
and  therefore  gets  wisdom  as  the  principal  thing  to  be 
had  of  life. 


I 


"A  certain  order,  then,  proper  to  each,  becoming  in- 
herent in  each,  makes  each  thing  good." — Plato,  Gorgias, 
§133.     380  B.C. 


I 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN   AND    RECORD 

The  variety  of  duties. — Frictions. — -Daily  preparation. — Daily 
programs  in  a  graded  elementary  school. — High  school  programs. — 
Advance  plans  versus  records  of  accomplishment. — A  new  class. 

THERE  is  a  deal  of  difference  in  the  kind  and  in  the 
quahty  of  the  work  that  different  teachers  naust 
perform  every  day  of  their  hves.  One  teacher  has 
twenty  small  children  for  three  or  four  hours  a  day. 
Another  has  half  a  thousand  in  the  course  of  a  week, 
holding  with  them  in  class  sessions  of  half  an  hour  each 
for  two  or  three  times  during  the  week  but  teaching 
each  day  six  or  seven  hours.  I  have  seen  even  greater 
extremes. 

One  teacher  meets  his  pupils  in  a  log-cabin  with  log- 
fumiture;  another  meets  his  in  a  pressed-brick  palace 
with  the  latest  adjustable  desks  for  furniture. 

One  high  school  may  have  seventy-five  teachers  for 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  pupils,  while  another  has  but 
thirty-five  for  eleven  hundred  pupils. 

These  instances  suffice  to  show  that  in  the  conditions 
and  circumstances  of  their  work,  teachers  differ  too 
much  to  make  closely  prescriptive  directions  profitable. 

But  regarding  all  teachers  a  few  facts  may  be  as- 
sumed. 

Of  these,  the  first  is  that  whatever  be  the  number  or 

119 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

grade  of  their  pupils,  and  whatever  the  conditions  and 
surroundings  of  their  work,  the  teacher  has  all  that  he 
can  do.  For  this,  there  are  two  reasons:  First,  the 
employers  of  teachers  are  seldom  so  careless  of  the  ex- 
tent of  the  duties  of  their  employes  as  to  allow  them 
a  relaxing  and  disintegrating  amount  of  leisure.  Second, 
it  requires  but  two  or  three  boys  or  girls  to  open  up 
opportunities  for  thought,  endeavor  and  anxiety  enough 
to  keep  an  intelligent  adult  constantly  busy  in  caring 
for  them.  The  average  American  city  school  teacher 
has  for  employers  principal,  supervisors,  superintend- 
ent, board  of  education  members,  perhaps  other  public 
governing  officers,  taxpayers,  citizens  and  parents  and 
as  a  class  some  forty  pupils.  The  case  of  the  American 
district  school  teacher  is  different  but  not  easier.  Like- 
wise, the  teacher  in  the  parochial  or  other  private  school 
is  working  under  conditions  that  tax  strength  and 
ability  to  their  limits. 

A  second  fact  that  may  be  assumed  is  that  a  large 
amount  of  the  hard  work  that  the  average  teacher  per- 
forms daily  is  the  result  of  friction  in  relation  to  the 
task.  Every  change  that  reduces  the  friction  eases  the 
amount  of  hard  work. 

To  illustrate : — It  is  easier  to  work  under  an  agreeable  but 
not  omnipresent  principal  than  to  work  under  other  kinds. 
It  is  easier  to  work  in  a  well-lighted,  well-ventilated,  prop- 
erly heated,  large,  clean,  commodious  room  than  in  one  that 
fails  in  these  particulars.  Of  all  the  advantages  and  quali- 
fications that  a  teacher  can  have  for  his  daily  task,  these  are 
the  greatest: — 1st,  adequate  financial  return;  2d,  security 
of  tenure;  3d,  health;  4th,  strength;  5th,  general  intellect- 
ual preparation  for  teaching;  and  6th,  adequate  daily  prep- 
aration before  entering  the  class-room.    These  advantages 

120 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN   AND   RECORD 

are  of  extremely  complicated  relationships  with  one  another. 
The  teacher  who  lasts  in  teaching  twenty-five  years  is  en- 
tirely familiar  with  these  relationships.  Yet  not  more  than 
one  of  them  has  been  measurably  within  his  or  her  personal 
control — the  last.  Most  teachers  can  in  a  degree  control 
the  extent  of  the  daily  preparation  of  their  lessons.  There 
are  no  successful  teachers  of  twenty-five  years'  experience 
who  have  not  felt  soijie  interest  constantly  in,  and  have  not 
given  some  time  regularly  to,  the  daily  preparation  of  the 
class  lessons.  The  degree  in  which  a  teacher  prepares  his 
daily  lessons  depends  in  part  upon  his  health  and  strength, 
in  part  upon  the  number  of  hours  given  to  actual  teaching, 
but  in  the  main  to  his  own  conception  of  the  importance  of 
the  teaching  function.  One  who  cares  about  the  lessons 
next  to  be  given  thinks  about  them  when  going  to  school 
and  at  many  other  apparently  care-free  times  of  the  day. 
The  extent  of  the  teacher's  daily  preparation  is  less  within 
his  control;  and  yet  even  the  teacher  whose  school  lasts 
seven  or  eight  hours  a  day  can  usually  get  one  or  two  hours 
for  preparation,  when  he  so  wnlls,  desires,  and  intends. 

A  third  fact  may  be  assumed  as  true  of  all  teachers, — 
they  teach  because  they  are  interested  in  the  work. 
There  are  some  exceptions,  perhaps  a  considerable  pro- 
portion among  the  older  teachers;  but  taking  the  entire 
half  million  men  and  women,  one  can  find  no  other 
profession  with  so  small  a  number  relatively  who  work 
neither  for  money  nor  for  fame,  neither  for  livelihood 
nor  for  respectable  employment.  To  teach  is  a  very 
natural  human  function,  requiring  but  little  stimulus 
for  its  awakening  in  most  hearts.  Because  of  this  fact 
that  most  teachers  enjoy  doing  the  work,  they  are 
usually  ready  and  indeed  in  many  instances  eager  for 

suggestions.    Most  of  the  exceptions  are  in  those  cities 

121 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND  MANAGEMENT 

where  they  have  been  badly  managed  by  disloyal 
boards  of  education  or  by  incompetent  and  perhaps 
tyrannical  superintendents. 

From  these  facts,  it  follows,  first,  that  to  ease  the 
work  in  their  class-rooms,  teachers  should  prepare  them- 
selves immediately  and  in  detail  before  entering  upon 
the  day's  duties;  second,  to  go  on  improving  year  after 
year  and  to  be  happy  in  their  work,  they  should  make 
such  daily  preparation;  and,  third,  that  making  such 
preparation  is  evidence  of  fitness  for  and  happiness 
in  teaching.  And  the  corresponding  negatives  are  all 
true: — not  to  prepare  each  day's  lessons  properly  is  to 
make  the  day's  work  hard;  not  to  prepare  them  regu- 
larly year  after  year — to  live  by  the  old  note-books — is 
to  insure  both  intellectual  stagnation  or  worse,  and  also 
esthetic  distaste  for  the  tasks  of  education;  and  not  to 
prepare  is  evidence  of  unfitness  for,  and  unhappiness  in, 
the  work.  WTiat  and  whom  we  love,  we  labor  for  and 
gladly  serve.    Thereby,  we  grow. 

In  preparation  for  the  day's  duties,  the  first  move  is 
to  make  a  general  daily  program.  When  that  is  already 
provided  by  others  in  authority,  the  first  move  is  to 
make  the  special  daily  program. 

The  principles  that  should  govern  the  making  of  the 
daily  program  are  as  follows — viz.: 

1.  Before  school,  get  materials  ready,  see  individual 
pupils,  confer  with  school  heads  and  colleagues. 

2.  By  morning  exercises  in  music,  ethical  lesson,  story- 
telling, and  literary  or  elocutionary  class  or  individual 
features,  bring  the  pupils  into  harmony  with  the  school 
atmosphere. 

3.  Because  we  have  many  fatigue  rhythms  or  natural 

122 


THE   DAY'S  WORK— ITS   PLAN   AND   RECORD 

bodily  periodicities,  the  child  under  ten  should  seldom  be 
held  to  lessons  over  15-20  minutes  in  length; 

4.  And  the  hardest  work  should  come  earliest  in  the 
morning. 

5.  Hard  and  easy  subjects  should  alternate. 

6.  Such  exercises  as  spelling,  writing,  and  calisthenics 
should  not  be  over  ten  minutes  in  length  because  of  special 
difficulties, — respectively,  confusion  of  ideas,  special  mus- 
cular fatigue,  and  widely  extended  physical  excitation. 

7.  Children  need  a  mid-morning,  spontaneous,  care-free 
period,  best  secured  by  a  recess  not  too  long  nor  too  closely 
supervised. 

8.  End  each  session  with  study  period  or  manual  work. 

9.  Where  the  curriculum  is  crowded,  teach  informa- 
tional studies  and  physiological  or  psychological  exercises 
but  two  or  three  days  each  week,  using  one  program  for 
Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday  and  another  for  Tuesday 
and  Thursday. 

10.  Teach  a  subject  always  at  the  same  hour  of  the  day, 
if  at  all.  Expectation  and  functioning  depend  upon  reg- 
ular periodical  rhythms. 

11.  Since  teachers  differ  in  psychical  rate  and  otherwise, 
they  should  have  freedom  within  limits  to  lengthen  or 
shorten  the  periods  devoted  to  the  various  subjects. 

12.  The  easiest  lessons  should  be  assigned  for  Mondays 
and  Fridays, 

General  Note. — For  a  discussion  as  to  whether  or  not 
to  divide  a  third-year  class  into  two  sections  (say)  A  and  B, 
or  1st  and  2d,  see  Chapter  VII  following.  When  two  sec- 
tions or  three  or  four  groups  are  formed,  it  becomes  Requisite 
to  prepare  the  special  day's  program  in  much  detail. 

123 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


I.  THIRD  YEAR  AT  SCHOOL 


General  Daily  Program 

A.M. 

9.00-  9.15  Morning  exercises 

9.15-  9.35  Arithmetic 

9.35-  9.50  Writing 

9.50-10.10  Nature-study* 

a.m. 

10.10-10.30  Language 

10.30-10.45  Recess  2 

10.45-11.05  Reading 

11.05-11.15  Spelling 

11.15-11.45  Manual  work 

P.M. 

1.15-  1.30  Music 

1.30-  1.45  Oral  arithmetic 

1.45-  1.55  Calisthenics 

1.55-  2.05  Memory  selection 

2.05-  2.15  Recess 

2.15-  2.35  Drawing 

2.35-  3.00  Study 


Speclvl  Day's  Progr.\m,  Oct.  1 

St.  Luke  ^^  :  27-38  (1) 

"9"  Table,  written  problems  (2) 

mnmnmn 

Squirrels         ' 

Statements  about  autumn 

H 's  Third,  p.  18 

(3) 

Finish  raffia  basket 

New  rote  song:    "Dance  of  the 

Leaves" 
Fund,  opems.  sm.  numbers 
Supervisor's  day 
Bryant's    "A    Forest    Hymn," 

5  lines  (4) 

Squirrels  (5) 

Help  S.  G.  with  arithmetic  (6) 


'  Preferably  each  class-room,  certainly  each  school-house  should 
have  a  Nature  library,  with  well-illustrated  books.  There  should 
also  be  a  museum,  however  small  at  the  beginning.  Some  of  the 
books  and  materials  should  be  for  the  teacher,  but  most  of  tliem 
sliould  be  selected  for  the  uses  of  the  pupils  themselves.  There 
sliould  also  be  lantern  slides  and  stereoscope  views.  Often,  tlie 
teacher  can  have  none  of  these  aids;  more  often,  he  or  she  is  unwilling 
to  make  a  small  beginning. 

Of  course,  tlie  kind  of  lesson  that  the  teacher  is  to  give  about  the 
squirrel  will  depend  partly  upon  whether  he  or  she  and  the  pupils 
already  know  anji^liing  bj-  observation  about  squirrels.  Many  Na- 
ture lessons  are  absurd  because  they  assume  that  the  pupils  know 
notliing  whatever  about  the  things  discussed,  when  in  fact  they 
know  much.  Other  lessons  are  scarcely  less  absurd  because  tlie 
teachers  assume  that  the  children  know  something  about  their  topics 
but  in  reality  know  nothing. 

'  In  a  graded  .school,  probably  each  teacher  will  be  assigned  to 

124 


THE    DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN    AND    RECORD 

Lesson  Notes, — (1)  Talk  about  true  kindness.  Song, 
page  3.  Have  Dorothy  recite  from  Lowell's  "Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal."     Discuss  specific  acts  of  kindness  with  children, 

(2)  Set  of  problems  such  as  this: — "Isabel  picked  some 
cherries  and  gave  Catherine,  Marie,  and  Susan  each  nine. 
She  had  nine  left  herself.  How  many  did  she  pick  in  all?" 
Work  out  9x5  dramatically  with  five  groups  of  nine  chil- 
dren each,  and  with  nine  groups  of  five  children  each.  Work 
by  squares,  etc.,  on  blackboard,  9x  10.  (See  Appendix  V, 
Dramatic  Number  Lesson.) 

(3)  New  words, — tax,  taxes,  since.  Review, — ever,  fail, 
world,  hire. 

(4)  "Oh,  there  is  not  lost 

One  of  earth's  charms:  upon  her  bosom  yet, 
After  the  flight  of  untold  centuries, 
The  freshness  of  her  far  beginning  lies. 
And  yet  shall  lie." 

Bring  out  the  rhythmic  beauty  of  the  passage.  Tell 
children  how  old  the  earth  is.  Tell  them  that  it  seems  new 
to  each  new  little  child.  Explain  meaning  of  "charm," 
"flight,"  "centuries,"  and  any  word  about  which  inquiry 
is  made. 

(5)  Make  paper  cuttings  of  squirrels  in  characteristic 
poses.  Put  on  blackboard  drawing.  Have  six  children  do 
same. 

(6)  Help  J.  T.  with  his  articulation  of  "s."  Ask  M.  P.  D. 
why  she  doesn't  bring  her  home  work. 

recess  duty  for  a  day  once  in  every  week  or  every  fortnight.  It  is 
usually  preferable  to  have  the  recesses  separate  for  the  older  and  the 
younger  pupils.  Even  three  or  four  di\'isions  of  a  large  school  may 
be  desirable.  Unless  there  is  a  special  physical  culture  teacher  who 
teaches  games  and  plays  for  recess,  there  should  be  instruction  and 
direction  by  the  principal  and  class  teachers  in  recess  play  and 
manners.  Some  of  the  lessons  may  be  given  in  the  class-rooms. 
There  are  now  several  good  practical  books  on  the  subject. 

125 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


II.  EIGHTH  YEAR  AT  SCHOOL 


Teacher  has  several  subjects  in  each  of  two  classes. 
General  Daily  Program      Pupils  from 

A.M. 


Special  Day's 
Program,  June  15 


9.00-  9.15  Morning  e.xercises 

9.15-  9.45  Arithmetic 

9.-45-10.15  Arithmetic 

10.15-10.30  Recess 

10.30-11.00  Geography 

11.00-11.15  Music 

11.15-11.45  Geography 

P.M. 

1.15-  1.45  History 

1.45-  1.55  Music 

1.55-  2.10  Writing 

2.10-  2.20  Recess 

2.20-  2.50  History 

2.50-  3.00  Calisthenics 

3.00-  3.15  Writing 

3.15-  3.30  Study 


Room  18 
Room  18 

Room  19 


Room  19 

Room  19 
Room  18 

Room  18 

Room  19 
Room  19 

Room  19 
Room  18 
Room  18 
Room  18 


Psalm  XV  (1) 

Class  test: — percent- 
age and  interest  (2) 

Class  test: — percent- 
age and  interest  (2) 

See  note ',  p.  124,  pre- 
ceding 

Re\'iew  Asia  R.  &  H. 
(3) 

Key  of  E  (4) 

Asia 

-'s,  pp.  401-410 


(•5) 
E 
O  C  Q  (6) 

401-410 

Wands  (7) 

OCQ 

Go  over  to-morrow's 

geography  (8) 

(1)  Explain  promises,  contracts,  agreements.  Songs, 
pages  44,  89.  Declamation  by  William  S.,  "Horatius." 
Discuss  recent  change  in  protection  tariff. 

(2)  Test  paper,  five  problems  such  as  the  following: — B 
had  $600  and  put  it  in  a  savings-bank  for  three  years  at 
4  per  cent,  compound  interest  semiannually.  R  had  the 
same  amount  but  loaned  it  out  at  6  per  cent,  simple  in- 
terest for  three  years.  What  amounts  of  interest  did  each 
receive  at  close  of  this  period? 

(3)  Compare  carefully  relative  areas  and  populations  of 
all  the  important  countries.  Draw  sketch  maps  of  Arabia, 
India,  China,  Japan  Islands. 

(4)  Review  one-flat,  two-flat,  three-flat  scales.  Explain 
relation  of  C  key  to  E  key.    Call  attention  to  the  melan- 

126 


THE    DAY'S  WORK— ITS    PLAN    AND    RECORD 

choly  effect  of  the  flats,  and  why.     Compare  with  sharps, 
and  why.     Illustrate.     Group  children  to  illustrate. 

(5)  Explain  reconstruction  policy  of  Republican  party 
as  partly  caused  by  revenge  for  Lincoln's  death,  partly  from 
hatred  of  victors  for  vanquished,  partly  by  sheer  ignorance 
of  the  character  of  the  freedmen,  partly  by  rise  in  North 
of  unworthy  men  and  of  new  men  to  high  office,  and  partly 
as  no  policy  at  all  but  haphazard  action.  Show  damage 
done  to  South  by  the  Reconstruction  Acts.  Johnson  was 
irascible  and  unsufficiently  informed,  Grant  a  soldier- 
engineer,  not  a  statesman  or  a  politician.  Neither  under- 
stood human  nature  thoroughly  and  broadly. 

(6)  Work  over  the  swing  both  from  right  to  left  and  from 
left  to  right;  and  then  proceed  to  capitals.  Use  both 
blackboard  and  pen-and-ink  exercises. 

(7)  Work  for  shoulder -straightening:  use  sixteen  full 
overhead  swings  of  wands. 

(8)  Show  children  what  study  is.  Take  first  paragraph, 
page  272.  Discuss  words:  general  meaning  of  sentences: 
special  meanings :  recall  similar  truths  learned  earlier.  Com- 
pare Ganges  with  Danube  and  Susquehanna.  Help  J.  T. ; 
McL.;  Hester,  to  read.     They  don't  read  yet. 


III.  JUNIOR  AND  SENIOR  SCIENCES  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 


General  Daily  Program 

A.M. 

9.00-  9.20   Chapel  exercises 

9.20-10.05   Senior  chemistry 

10.05-10.45   Senior  chemistry 


Pupils  from      Special  Monday 
Program,  Sept.  24 

Room  12       Purify  sea  salt  (1) 
Room  26       Determine  some  im- 
purities (2) 


10.45-11.00   Recess 
11.00-11.40   Junior  physics 
11.40-12.20   Junior  physics 
12.20-12.50   Noon  intermission 
12.50-  1.30  Free  time 

Room    9 
Room  10 

Pendulum  (3) 
Pendulum  (3) 

p.m. 
1.30-  2.10  Geology 
2.10-  2.30  Charge  study  hall 

Room  25 
127 

Chronology  by  eras  (4) 

I 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

General  Note. — The  special  teacher  in  the  high  school, 
like  the  college  professor,  seldom  fails  in  the  same  way  to 
prepare  himself  daily  as  does  the  general  elementary  school 
grade-and-class  teacher.  The  high  school  expert  is  apt  to 
take  large  enough  views  but  not  apt  to  complete  the  detail 
preparation.  Often,  he  sets  out  to  give  lessons  that  are  too 
long  and  above  the  knowledge  and  powers  of  his  pupils. 

Lesson  Notes. — (1)  This  lesson  will  require  several  days 
for  accomplishment.  Notes  on  "salts,"  iodine,  organic 
matter,  etc. 

(2)  Assumes  that  Room  26  has  proceeded  a  little  faster 
than  Room  12, 

(3)  Show  clocks  with  weights  and  with  springs.  Time 
and  measure  the  60-beat  to  the, minute  pendulum;  the  30- 
beat;  the  120-beat.  Derive  the  law.  Show  how  imma- 
terial the  weight  of  pendulum  is,  provided  heavy  enough  to 
accpire  momentum  and  to  preserve  inertia.  Draw  arcs  of 
these  pendulums. 

(4)  Etymology  *'zoic"  and  other  parts  of  the  terms 
"eozoic,"  "palaeozoic,"  etc.  Make  drawing  to  show  earth's 
crust.  On  map  show  oldest  and  youngest  surfaces  on 
North  American  Continent.     Define  "rock."    Assign  and 

explain  advance   lesson,  pages    15-20.     G 's  Geology. 

Call  up  each  pupil  on  cards  for  one  question  at  least.     Give 
references  to  encyclopedias,  dictionaries,  etc. 

It  may  be  perhaps  objected  that  the  competent  teacher 
can  remember  all  these  points  without  writing  them 
down.  In  many  instances,  this  is  true.  No  superin- 
tendent or  principal  is  likely  to  insist  that  the  teacher 
who  can  remember  his  special  day's  program  shall  write 
it  down.  But  every  good  superintendent  and  every 
good  principal  does  insist  that  before  going  into  class, 
the  teacher  shall  have  clearly  in  mind  all  the  work  that 
he  hopes  to  accomplish  in  that  period  with  that  class. 

128 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS   PLAN   AND    RECORD 

Those  who  can  certainly  remember  just  what  they  have 
proposed  to  do  are  better  off  without  notes  than  with 
them.  But  such  persons  need  constantly  to  guard 
themselves  against  the  spirit  of  improvisation,  lest,  in 
the  presence  of  the  class,  they  depart  widely  from,  even 
hopelessly  of  return  to,  the  proposed  line  of  instruction. 
Now  and  then,  a  complete  abandonment  of  the  proposed 
lesson  is  commendable;  but  inventive  and  resourceful 
teachers  who  think  that  they  do  not  need  written  notes 
are  apt  to  carry  the  pupils  at  a  jump  into  regions  essen- 
tially incomprehensible  to  them.  When  the  abandon- 
ment is  of  an  advance  lesson  in  favor  of  some  review 
unexpectedly  discovered  as  being  needed,  serious  harm 
is  not  likely  to  result. 

In  truth,  the  predicaments  at  end-of-term  time  of  the 
two  kinds  of  teachers  who  do  not  use  prepared  lesson 
plans  are  apt  to  be  serious.  Those  of  one  kind  are  too 
indifferent  to  make  such  preparation,  but  live  in  self- 
confidence  not  merely  from  hour-to-hour  without  fore- 
sight but  actually  from  minute-to-minute  trusting  to 
"inspiration"  and  to  the  suggestions  of  events  and  op- 
portunities. Those  of  the  other  kind  are  often  without 
sufficient  imagination  to  conceive  of  the  class  and  reci- 
tation save  in  the  actual  presence  of  necessity.  The 
teacher  who  trusts  his  or  her  mother  wits  may  be  brill- 
iant but  is  not  likely  to  be  thorough  or  complete.  For 
want  of  method  and  of  carefully  considered  devices,  he 
loses  much  time  and  often  the  sight  of  the  true  goal. 
The  teacher  who  dully  waits  to  see  what  the  turn  of 
affairs  will  be  seldom  arrives  anywhere,  seldom  goes  at 
all.  The  brilliant  teacher  is  redeemable:  the  dull,  un- 
imaginative teacher  is  incurable. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  no  one  can  foresee  exactly 

129 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

what  a  day  is  to  bring  forth, — of  work,  of  need,  of  op- 
portunity. For  days,  for  weeks,  for  months,  a  teacher 
may  see  each  day's  plan  fairly  realized ;  then  may  come 
days,  weeks,  months,  when  things  go  differently,  even 
go  wrong.  A  parent  or  several  parents,  a  supervisor, 
a  politician,  a  bad  boy  or  girl  or  both  or  several,  a  new 
text-book  that  will  not  "work," — that  does  not  serve 
the  needs  properly, — a  shortage  of  books  or  supplies, 
bad  weather,  ill-health,  misfortune,  an  unpleasant  per- 
son in  a  neighboring  class-room,  an  excess  of  laggard 
pupils,  an  insufficient  proportion  of  stimulating  pupils, 
want  of  authority  in  the  head  of  the  school,  weak  new 
teachers — any  one  or  more  of  a  thousand  factors  may 
suddenly  or  slowly  intervene  to  break  up  a  hitherto 
delightful  relation  between  plan  and  fulfilment. 

The  making  of  a  good  program  for  a  district  school, 
taught  by  one  teacher  with  a  large  number  of  pupils, 
is  one  of  the  difficult  mechanical  tasks  of  pedagogy.  It 
involves  many  conflicts  of  sound  educational  principles 
and  of  the  interests  of  individual  pupils.  I  have  seen 
a  teacher  in  such  a  school  with  sixty  children  ten  grades 
apart, — beginners  too  small  to  learn  to  read  and  ad- 
vanced pupils  taking  Latin,  physics  and  geometry. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  standardize  the  "district 
school"  into  three  "forms"  or  "cycles";  and  this  per- 
haps fits  the  general  need  more  frequently  than  does  any 
other.  But  of  three-form  eight-graded  schools,  one  with 
twenty  pupils  averaging  twelve  years  of  age  is  one  thing; 
and  another  with  sixty  averaging  nine  years  of  age 
is  quite  another.  The  fluctuations  from  summer  to 
winter  and  again  to  spring  present  yet  other  difficulties. 
A  few  principles  may,  however,  prove  generally  appfica- 
ble :  a  few  others  may  be  occasionally  helpful. 

130 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN   AND   RECORD 

1.  Make  the  number  of  classes  for  recitation  purposes 
as  small  as  possible. 

2.  Put  as  many  pupils  into  each  recitation  class  as  is 
reasonably  defensible. 

3.  Make  each  recitation  period  as  long  as  possible. 

4.  Work  as  many  classes  together  in  one  subject  at  the 
same  time  as  possible,  either  hearing  all  recite  together  or 
hearing  one  recite  while  directing  others  in  the  same  study. 

5.  Do  not  try  to  have  the  same  subjects  invariably  every 
day. 

6.  Keep  an  eye  always  for  the  classes  not  reciting  and 
see  that  they  have  study-lessons  or  "busy  work"  in  their 
seats. 

7.  If  possible,  let  each  class  recite  at  least  once  in  every 
hour. 

8.  Let  no  class  have  less  than  three  recitations,  however 
brief,  each  day. 

9.  Provide  for  abundance  of  written  work. 

10.  Keep  at  least  one  day  each  week  and  an  extra  day 
each  month  relatively  free  to  help  backward  classes  and 
pupils, — to  "pick  up  dropped  stitches." 

IL  In  large  schools,  requiring  four  "forms,"  it  may 
prove  helpful  to  let  older  pupils  assist  considerably,  not  in 
teaching  or  in  discipline,  of  course,  but  to  give  recess  signals, 
to  follow  the  movements  of  smaller  pupils,  to  assist  in 
handling  materials,  and  in  other  ways  to  help  economize 
the  time  of  the  teacher. 

12.  In  such  schools,  keep  making  time  for  and  progress 
in  arithmetic  and  English,  whatever  else  must  be  set  aside. 

13.  Always  have  morning  exercises, — music,  some  ethical 
lesson,  general  directions,  memory  gem  or  other  literary 
feature  by  class  or  individual,  story-telling, — and,  if  pos- 
sible, have  "something  special"  for  part  of  Friday  after- 
noon. 

14.  In  large  schools,  make  three  programs, — one  for  Mon- 
10  131 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 


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133 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

day  and  Wednesday,  another  for  Tuesday  and  Thursday, 
and  a  third  for  Friday.  (Upon  occasion,  the  teacher  may 
say, — "  Now  for  to-morrow,  though  it  is  Monday  [or  Wednes- 
day] we  will  have  our  Tuesday  [or  Friday]  program.  But 
so  far  as  is  possible,  let  each  subject  come  at  the  same  hour 
each  day  that  you  have  it. 

15.  Do  not  neglect  the  beginners  or  indeed  any  children 
under  nine  years  old.     Get  them  well  started. 

16.  As  soon  as  possible  after  "sizing  up  the  situation ' '  and 
discovering  how  much  and  how  little  can  probably  be  done, 
come  to  a  clear  understanding  with  the  next  higher  school 
authority  whether  township  or  county  superintendent  or 
local  board  of  education  or  visitors  or  trustees  or  State 
supervisor — by  whatever  name  that  authority  is  called  or 
in  whatever  office  he  is  (or  they  are) — as  to  just  what  you 
propose  to  accomplish.  This  avoids  possible  later  misun- 
derstandings. Do  this,  no  matter  how  ignorant  or  how 
"political"  that  authority  may  be. 

Often  district  school  teachers  with  large  schools  be- 
come discouraged ;  and  sometimes  those  in  small  schools 
became  equally  discoui'aged.  The  first  may  have  too 
much  to  do.  "Blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  you  see,  and 
your  ears,  for  you  hear."  The  second  may  feel  that 
they  have  too  little  to  do.  Yours  then  is  the  opportunity 
to  do  much  for  each  child,  and  to  master  both  the  sub- 
ject-matter and  the  pedagogy  of  such  a  school. 

To  help  the  teacher  remain  true  to  his  course,  nothing 
serves  better  than  a  record  of  the  past.  The  teacher 
who  makes  regularly  a  plan  of  the  day's  work  and  keeps 
a  file  of  these  plans  scarcely  needs  the  annalistic  diary 
or  similar  note-book  or  file -record.  But  all  other 
teachers  do  need  the  historical  record.  Especially  do 
experienced  teachers   require  a   record   of  the   class- 

134 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN   AND   RECORD 

accomplishment.  The  human  memory  plays  two  tricks 
with  those  who  for  the  fom'th  or  the  tenth  or  the  thir- 
tieth time  are  going  over  the  same  subject.  It  makes 
one  fill  the  recent  past  with  details  belonging  to  an 
earlier  time.  The  teacher  thinks  that  he  has  taught 
so-and-so  when  he  really  has  not  taught  it.  And  the 
other  trick  of  memory  is  yet  worse:  it  creates  an  illu- 
sory past  so  that  one  thinks  that  the  world  is  getting 
worse, — that  the  children  of  the  year  1911  are  not  do- 
ing so  well  as  those  of  the  year  1910  or  1901,  or  1891 
or  1876.  The  note-book  tells  the  truth.  It  helps  the 
cause  of  justice. 

The  judiciary  understand  this  and  will  believe  even 
an  untruthful  man's  diary  rather  than  a  truthful  man's 
memory.  This  is  not  due  to  the  decadence  of  human 
memory  in  civilization  but  to  the  world-old  activity  of 
imagination  and  of  fancy,  which  are  forever  reconstruct- 
ing past  events  in  the  desire  to  understand  them 
better  and  realistically  to  renew  their  pleasures. 
Men  do  not  often  record  falsehoods  in  writing:  their 
invincible  and  necessary  optimism  creates  falsehoods 
out  of  facts  by  suppression  usually  of  partial  features  of 
the  facts. 

Such  is  the  nature  of  some  persons  that  they  prefer 
to  record  the  day's  accomplishment  rather  than  to  write 
down  its  plan  in  advance.  Those  who  do  this  in  school 
w^ork  are  usually  good  reviewers  and  drill-masters.  When 
for  want  of  a  plan,  in  an  emergency  in  a  recitation,  they 
do  not  know  what  next  to  do  for  progress  in  the  subject, 
they  resort  to  review  or  to  drill;  in  some  grades,  unless 
these  reviews  are  too  frequent,  in  some  subjects  in  any 
grade,  they  do  but  little  harm.  Any  logical  subject 
whether  arithmetic  or  political  economy  or  metaphysics 

135 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

will  bear  an  immense  amount  of  drill  upon  its  essentials 
and  fundamentals.  But  such  unintended  reviews  and 
drills  produce  weariness  of  the  pupils  in  the  informa- 
tional or  so-called  "content"  studies;  nor  are  they 
expedient  when  often  repeated  in  the  psychological  and 
physiological  exercises.  The  soldier  who  has  been 
drilled  for  twenty  years  in  the  manual  of  arms  cannot 
find  his  place  in  ordinary  society.  His  mind  and  his 
body  are  victimized  by  routine;  he  is  overtrained,  lit- 
erally has  been  "drawn  along," — instructed,  literally 
"pulled  in" — too  often.  The  experienced  draughtsman 
cannot  become  an  architect.  He  sees  the  world  too  nar- 
rowly; his  fancy  is  dead. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  "overschooling".  It  is  the 
result  of  being  reviewed  and  drilled  and  tested  and 
trained  and  instructed  too  much  and  too  long  by  these 
very  teachers  who,  being  without  imagination  or  in- 
vention, without  scholarship  and  aspiration,  drill  when 
they  should  be  teaching. 

Back  of  the  movement  to  enrich  all  schools  is  the  pro- 
test of  half-nourished,  overtrained,  too  much  disciplined 
men  and  women  whose  schooling  was  regimentation,  not 
education. 

In  making  a  record  that  shall  be  valuable,  the  teacher 
who  intends  to  know  three  months,  six  months,  ten 
years  afterward,  in  truth  just  what  his  class  did  accom- 
plish needs  especially  to  record  such  matters  as  (1)  the 
pages  of  the  various  text-books  assigned  from  day  to 
day  both  for  advance  lessons  and  for  reviews;  (2)  the 
important  topics  actually  discussed;  and  (3)  the  marks 
given  to  pupils;  and  should  file  (4)  the  tests,  reviews 
and  examinations  given.  It  is  not  useless  sometimes  to 
have  on  hand  specimen  papers  (say)  two  very  good 

136 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN    AND    RECORD 

ones,  two  average  and  two  poor  ones  from  term  to  term 
and  from  year  to  year.^ 

In  making  either  plan  or  record,  we  are  likely  to  find 
some  kind  of  card  or  loose  leaf  system  better  than  entry 
in  books  and  far  better  than  filing  loose  papers  of 
irregular  size. 

This  general  subject  of  each  day's  work  is  too  in- 
timately connected  with  the  larger  subject  of  the  assign- 
ment for  the  month,  for  the  term  and  for  the  year,  to 
be  closed  without  some  reference  to  the  whole  of  which 
the  day's  work  is  but  a  part. 

Two  plans  prevail  for  beginning  a  new  grade's  work 
whether  it  be  after  annual  promotion  or  semiannual. 
One  is  to  take  a  week  or  two  at  the  beginning  to  review 
the  work  of  the  class  in  the  earlier  grade.  To  this,  there 
is  one  serious  objection, — it  tends  to  discourage  the  pupils, 
making  the  brighter  ones  feel  and  say  that  the  promo- 
tion did  not  mean  anything  because  they  are  "doing  the 
same  old  lessons."  This  usually  leads  to  parental  criti- 
cism of  the  teachers  and  sometimes  to  protests  to  higher 
authorities. 

The  other  plan  is  to  plunge  at  once  into  new  work, 
making  no  or  but  little  incjuiry  into  the  question  as  to 
how  much  of  the  former  work  the  pupils  remember  and 
can  do.  This  always  makes  trouble  in  the  logical  or 
"form"  studies. 

*  I  have  always  been  sorry  that  I  did  not  keep  the  names  and 
addresses  of  every  pupil  that  I  myself  have  had  as  a  teacher  in  my 
various  academic  college  and  university  classes.  There  have  been 
several  times  in  my  life  when  such  records  would  have  been  helpful 
to  me.  In  all  such  matters  there  is,  of  course,  a  golden  mean;  but 
most  of  us  err,  at  least  in  our  early  years,  in  not  providing  records 
against  the  time  when,  from  sheer  burden  of  the  items  of  experience, 
we  forget,  or  appear  to  forget,  many  of  them. 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

The  true  solution  of  the  matter  is,  by  doing  both,  to 
do  neither  exclusively.  There  should  be  enough  ad- 
vance work  especially  in  the  informational  studies  to 
make  the  pupils  know  and  feel  that  they  are  really 
going  forward,  while  there  should  be  enough  re\aew  in 
all  other  studies  and  in  the  physiological  and  psycho- 
logical exercises  to  assure  the  teacher  that  the  founda- 
tions are  sound.  In  truth,  the  advanced  teacher  needs 
more  to  know  what  the  pupils  know  and  can  do  well 
than  what  they  do  not  know  and  cannot  do  well,  for 
our  assets  are  our  knowledge  and  skill,  not  our  ignorance 
and  our  deficiencies.  The  ingenious  teacher,  indeed, 
will  do  much  reviewing  that  liis  pupils  do  not  suspect. 

Yet  more  important,  as  affecting  a  longer  period  of 
time,  is  it  for  the  school  authorities,  who  in  this  instance 
should  certainly  include  the  practical  class  teachers,  so 
to  apportion  the  amounts  of  advance  work  required 
each  month,  week  and  day  that  each  day's  lesson  is  about 
equally  hard  and  long  to  accomplish  as  is  every  other 
day's.  This  means  that  the  first  lessons  should  appar- 
ently be  the  shortest,  and  that  the  tests  and  reviews 
should  be  fairly  apportioned.  Because  a  half  year  con- 
tains about  one  hundred  days,  it  does  not  follow  that 
each  day  the  class  in  historj^  should  cover  one -hun- 
dredth of  the  entire  assignment  of  the  text-book.  In 
a  general  way,  the  longer  lessons  should  be  toward  the 
end  of  the  term,  provided  that  the  more  difficult  pages 
have  more  time  allotted  to  them  than  the  easier. 
In  a  general  way,  the  re\dews  should  be  more  frequent 
in  the  logical  than  in  the  informational  studies.  To  be 
specific,  a  class  that  is  to  do  four  Books  of  Ccesar's  Com- 
mentaries and  some  reading  at  sight  (say)  in  Sallust 
should  not  be  expected  to  read  more  than  one-tenth  of 

138 


THE   DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN    AND    RECORD 

the  material  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  year.  A  class 
that  must  perform  one  hundred  and  twelve  experi- 
ments in  Physics  does  well  to  perform  about  half  a 
dozen  in  the  first  four  weeks.  This  is  not  ''rushing 
things  at  the  end";  it  is  using  at  the  end  the  momentum 
acquired  earlier. 

In  a  general  way,  drills,  tests,  and  reviews  should 
occupy  a  quarter  of  the  entire  time  in  informational 
studies,  and  half  the  time  in  the  logical.  These  pro- 
portions are,  however,  too  small  for  primary  grades  and 
too  large  for  secondary  schools;  and  fairly  represent 
only  the  needs  of  middle  grammar  grades  with  classes  of 
ordinary  powers  and  proficiencies.  Even  this  principle 
requires  modification  to  suit  the  special  qualities  of  the 
teacher.  Rapid  teachers  need  to  review  more  than  do 
slower  ones.  Brilliant  classes  need  more  frequent  and 
more  thorough  reviews  than  do  slower,  safer  classes. 

Far  more  minds  are  injured  by  insufficient  drills  and 
reviews  than  by  too  many.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
requisite  to  remember  that  reviews,  drills  and  tests  must 
not  be  so  frequent  or  so  severe  as  to  worry  and  dis- 
hearten the  pupils.  Young  minds  like  the  new.  Where- 
fore that  teacher  who  in  every  review  yet  adds  a  little 
that  is  new  and  who  in  every  advance  lesson  does  some 
reviewing  is  ingenious,  meritorious  and  probably  popu- 
lar with  his  pupils. 

When  all  else  has  been  said,  these  things  remain: — 

First,  the  teacher,  and  not  the  "higher  authority," 
does  the  educating  except  in  so  far  as  principal  or  super- 
visor comes  directly  into  the  pupil's  life. 

Second,  it  is  the  day's  work  that  tells  the  story  of 
success  or  failure,  not  the  term's  or  year's  plan  or  the 
summer  vacation's  aspiration. 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

Third,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  teacher  in  the  day's  work 
that  wins  for  himself  and  for  his  pupils  victory  or  de- 
feat, the  good  courage  or  a  sense  of  failure. 

And  in  respect  to  this  essential  matter  of  the  heart  of 
the  teacher  in  the  work  from  day  to  day,  there  is  a  little 
self-criticism  that  often  helps  a  deal ;  it  is  as  little  as  the 
deflection  of  the  rudder  that  sends  the  ship  about ;  and 
yet  it  is  as  effective.  No  teacher  has  any  right  to  a 
personal  mood  that  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  eager 
and  hopeful  lives  of  youth, — no  teacher  whether  in 
kindergarten,  grammar  school,  college  or  university. 
There  may  be  terribly  hard  things  to  endure,  and  there 
often  are.  The  teacher  who  cannot  control  his  grief, 
whatever  be  its  cause,  or  his  wrath  or  his  discouragements, 
his  timidity  or  envy  or  other  abnormal  mood,  should  take 
a  vacation,  whether  for  a  day  or  a  year  or  ever  after; 
at  such  times,  he  does  not  belong  in  the  school-room. 
This  is  not  meant  to  read  out  of  their  tasks  the  cheorful 
invalid  or  the  brave  man  or  woman  in  the  day  of  afflic- 
tion or  trouble.  There  are  some  who  overcome  and  who 
have  entered  into  an  inheritance  of  peace.  Widows, 
daughters  of  bankrupt  fathers,  men  who  have  failed  in 
business  or  in  other  professions  often  make  the  best  of 
teachers  because  they  have  learned  more  of  the  mean- 
ing of  life  than  the  uniformly  fortunate  can  ever  know. 
Even  children  have  an  especial  respect  for  these  re- 
deemed ones, — there  is  much  personal  dignity  in  such 
as  are  reconciled  to  whatever  fate  befalls.  We  may 
know  them  by  a  certain  calm  and  by  a  certain  silence 
in  respect  to  matters  of  which  some  talk  lightly  and 
others  violently. 

The  teacher,  setting  his  face  or  her  face  toward  the 
school-house  or  a  college  lecture-hall  of  a  morning,  should 

140 


THE    DAY'S   WORK— ITS    PLAN   AND    RECORD 

go  gladly,  for  there  at  least  are  eager  and  grateful  lis- 
teners— with  futures  yet  to  be  won,  with  strength  not 
yet  overtried,  with  hope  and  faith  and  love  at  least 
for  the  teacher  in  their  hearts.  Especially  should  we 
who  deal  with  children  remember  that  it  is  our  high  and 
special  privilege  to  deal  for  livelihood  not  with  adults 
who  have  usually  broken  one  or  more  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments but  with  those  little  ones  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  like  whom  adults  must  again  become,  if  we 
also  would  enter  into  that  kingdom.  It  may  indeed 
be  that  by  good  teaching  and  by  an  equally  good  ex- 
ample, some  at  least  of  these  children  will  always  at 
heart  remain  throughout  life  superior  to  all  temptations, 
submission  to  which  is  exile  from  that  kingdom. 

The  day's  work  of  the  teacher  is,  upon  final  analysis, 
the  reflection  of  what  the  teacher  himself  is.  Among 
children,  fair  speech  and  other  concealments  avail  but 
little;  they  are  the  readers  of  character,  not  being  de- 
ceived by  their  own  self-interest  or  by  fear,  being  indeed 
deceived  only  in  respect  to  matters  beyond  their  com- 
prehension— and  even  then  catching,  as  it  were  in- 
stinctively, the  moods  of  hatred  or  of  good-will  toward 
men. 

For  the  teacher  when  proceeding  to  the  daily  tasks,  no 
motto  is  more  fitting  than  the  saying  of  the  herald 
angels, — "Peace  on  earth,  good- will  toward  men." 


"Skilful  teachers  make  instruction  in  all  subjects  moral — 
by  arousing  a  pure  desire  for  truth,  a  spirit  of  intellectual 
honesty,  a  will  to  work  and  to  overcome  difficulties,  and  a 
long  line  of  modest,  every-day  virtues." — Elmer  Ells- 
worth Brow^n,  The  Making  of  Our  Middle  Schools. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CONTROL  OF  THE  CLASS  AND  OF  THE   INDIVIDUAL 

Review  of  terms  used  in  education. — The  force-theory. — The  skill- 
theory. — School-and-home  theory. — Pupil  self-government  theory. 
— Manual  work  in  relation  to  discipline. — Virtue  is  at  the  point  of 
strain. — Moral  aims  in  education. — Means  to  attain  them. — When  is 
corporal  punishment  necessary? — Seating  a  class  so  as  to  avoid  un- 
necessary conditions  leading  to  disorder. — Directing  the  movements 
of  the  class. — Fire-drills. — The  mechanics  of  class  control. — Learning 
each  pupil. — Physical  defects. — Schools  and  classes  for  the  incorri- 
gible, for  the  defective,  for  the  laggard,  for  the  blind,  for  the  deaf,  for 
the  crippled. — Tests  of  feeble-mindedness. — The  reasonable  stand- 
ards of  conduct  in  children  and  youth. — The  school  virtues. 

IN  education,  we  use  many  more  or  less  technical 
words,  and  often  with  but  little  accuracy.  In  no 
phase  of  the  work  of  education  do  we  use  words  with 
less  accuracy  than  in  that  of  the  control  of  the  class  and 
the  discipline  of  the  individual.  Before  proceeding  to 
a  discussion  of  this  phase  of  education,  it  is  more  than 
desirable, — for  it  is  both  expedient  and  necessary, — to 
consider  with  care  and  thoroughness  the  terms  to  be 
employed.  It  is  doubtless  best  to  take  the  situation 
into  wide  review. 

To  "educate"  means  to  "make  to  come  forth"  or  to 
"cause  to  go  forward."  In  this  sense,  all  education  is 
compulsory.  Strictly  speaking,  no  one  may  properly 
use  the  term  "spontaneous  education,"  for  it  is  a  con- 
tradiction in  terms.     "The  educator  makes  states  of 

145 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

consciousness  that  are  not  accidental  or  incidental  or 
occasional  but  purposive  and  usually  systematic  and 
always  either  consecutive  or  in  regular  alternation."  ' 
Thereby,  he  effects  changes  in  the  course  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  soul  and  of  the  body  of  the  educatee : 
he  compels  him  to  be  different. 

To  "instruct"  is  to  "draw  in."  Naturally,  the  pupil 
wanders  from  the  highway  of  learning,  from  the  method 
by  which  he  should  enter  into  knowledge.  As  the 
shepherd  with  his  crook  goes  after  the  lost  sheep  in  the 
wilderness  to  pull  and  guide  and  even  to  carry  him  back, 
so  the  educator  instructs  the  lost  youth.  He  sets  him 
again  upon  the  beaten  track  that  the  righteous  and  wise 
have  followed. 

To  "train"  is  to  "draw,"  even  to  "drag  along."  It 
concerns  especially  the  lazy  and  the  weak. 

To  "teach,"  as  we  have  seen,  is  to  "show";  and  to 
' '  learn  "  is  to  "  go  forward  "  by  a  "  method  "  or  "  highway. ' ' 

To  "direct"  is  to  "point  right" — to  mark  the  goal. 

To  "correct"  is  to  "set  right,"  and  implies  that  the 
corrected  individual  is  going  wrong. 

To  "punish"  is  to  "inflict  a  penalty  upon";  and  to 
"chastise"  is  to  "make  clean"  or  "  pm'e." 

To  "study"  is  to  "agonize  over." 

T(5"' ' exerciser's  to  "shine  forth." 

To  "control"  is  to  "draw  with." 

To  "govern"  is  to  "pilot"  or  "guide." 

To  "manage"  is  to  "work  in  the  hand,"  as  one  kneads 
flom*  and  water  and  makes  dough;  or  to  "do  by  hand," 
meaning  to  "finish  carefully."  It  always  conveys  the 
idea  of  care  as  to  details. 

*  Chancellor,  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals  and  Values  in  Education, 
p.  22. 

146 


CONTROL   OF    THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

To  "administer"  is  to  "touch  the  hand  to." 

To  "supervise"  is  to  "oversee." 

To  "discipHne"  is  to  "treat  as  a  little  learner."  It  is 
almost  the  same  as  to  "baby." 

A  few  illustrations  may  serve  to  draw  out  the  con- 
trasted meanings  of  these  terms. 

Properly  speaking,  one  may  say  that : 

1.  In  a  large  city,  the  school  superintendent  administers 
the  schools  but  manages  his  office  affairs. 

2.  A  father  directs,  corrects  and  controls  his  family, 
while  the  mother  governs  and  manages  the  household.  In 
the  same  sense,  a  principal  should  captain  the  school  while 
the  several  teachers  pilot  their  own  classes. 

3.  The  principal  who  whips  a  pupil  is  punishing  him,  for 
whipping  is  too  harsh  a  chastisement  to  be  designated 
properly  by  the  term  disciplining. 

In  such  light  as  may  be  derived  from  reflection  upon 
these  terms  and  from  review  of  remarks  made  in  an 
earlier  chapter  upon  the  temperaments  of  teachers,^  we 
may  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  what  is,  for  many 
teachers,  a  more  serious  problem  than  teaching  itself, — 
class  government.  There  prevail  in  American  schools 
two  different  kinds  of  theory  and  practice  in  respect  to  se- 
curing from  the  class  and  its  individual  pupils  conformity 
to  "the  rules  of  the  school"  and  to  the  customs  of  polite 
society.  These  two  kinds  of  school  government  are  in 
straight  opposition  to  one  another  with  no  possible 
reconciliation  or  compromise.  In  addition  to  these 
two  wide-spread  theories  and  practices,  there  are  two 
others  that  have  recognition  here  and  there.     For  con- 

1  Pages  101,  102,  above. 
11  147 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

venience,  let  us  designate  these  four  modes  of  class  and 
pupil  control  somewhat  as  follows — viz.: 

1.  The  force-theory  of  school  management. 

2.  The  skill-theory  of  school  control. 

3.  The  school-and-home  theory. 

4.  The  pupil  self-government  theory. 

Proceeding  to  a  critical  examination  of  each  of  these 
theories,  let  us  note  briefly  and  clearly  what  each  theory 
with  its  resultant  practice  means  in  itself  and  in  com- 
parison with  the  other  theories. 

1.  According  to  the  force-theory,  boys  and  girls  and 
youth  even  through  liigh  school  and  into  college,  in 
many,  perhaps  in  most,  instances,  do  not  desire  to  con- 
form to  the  rules  of  the  school  and  to  the  customs  of 
polite  society  or  even  to  the  expressed  wishes  and  hopes 
of  their  teachers  but  of  deliberate  will  or  of  natural 
depravity  are  prone  to  err,  even  delight  in  erring;  and 
they  must  be  compelled  to  obey. 

The  common  mode  of  such  compulsion  is  corporal 
pain  caused  by  punishment:  this  mode  is  supported  by 
threats  of  punishment.  It  is  extended  into  the  grades 
and  schools  when  the  pupils  are  too  large  to  be  whipped 
by  the  mode  of  sarcasm  and  of  diatribe — -supported  by 
threats  of  explusion  or  of  suspension,-  seldom  executed. 
Under  certain  unfortunate  conditions,  to  be  developed 
fully  later  herein,  the  force-method  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary. 

2.  According  to  the  skill-theory  of  school  control, 
boys  and  girls  of  all  ages,  in  most  instances,  perhaps  in 
nearly  all,  go  to  school  desiring  to  learn.  When  proper- 
ly taught,  they  inquire  of  their  own  accord  into  the 
riJes  of  the  school,  the  customs  of  polite  society,  and 

148 


CONTROL   OF    THE    CLASS    AND    INDIVIDUAL 

the  wishes  and  hopes  of  their  teachers  in  respect  both 
to  proficiency  and  to  conduct  and  set  out  chhgently 
and  constantly  to  obey  and  to  conform.  Relatively 
but  few  pupils  require  any  orders;  of  these  few,  not  one 
in  a  hundred  needs  to  be  forced  by  blows  to  obey,  and 
in  the  event  of  disobedience  even  this  less-than-one-in- 
a-hundred  boy  can,  in  good  schools,  be  punished  in  bet- 
ter fashion  than  by  physical  force. 

This  theory  asserts  that  disorder  in  a  class-room  and 
disobedience  in  the  individual  pupil  are  evidences  that 
the  teacher  is  without  skill  in  teaching.  Instead  of  oblig- 
ing his  pupils  to  obey,  he  punishes  them  for  disobedience, 
which  is  proof  that  he  cannot  control  them. 

3.  The  oldest  of  all  these  theories  and  practices  of 
pupil-and-class  government  is  that  the  school  is  an 
auxiliary  of  the  home.  Except  under  orders  from 
parents,  no  pupil  is  to  be  physically  punished  at  school 
or  even  detained  after  school  for  admonition,  but  the 
teacher  is  to  throw  back  upon  the  parents  the  respon- 
sibility for  his  offence  and  also  of  the  proper  penalizing 
for  the  offence.  This  school-and-home  theory  continues 
to  this  day  in  some  old  communities  of  the  East  and 
South  and  in  the  new  communities  of  the  West  that 
have  been  settled  mostly  by  families  of  many  genera- 
tions in  this  country  and  of  the  Teutonic  stock.  It  is 
a  theory  vigorously  advocated  by  many  parents  and  by 
some  teachers  to  this  day  even  in  communities  where 
one  or  the  other  of  the  main  theories  is  in  full  control 
of  the  situation. 

4.  The  newest  of  all  these  theories  and  practices  of 
school  government  declares  that  in  any  grade  an  Ameri- 
can boy  or  girl  assisted  by  other  boys  and  girls  can  not 
only  govern  himself  but  learn  much  about  human  so- 

149 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

ciety  in  so  doing.  It  assumes  that  pupils  are  little  men 
and  women.  It  even  assumes  that  nearly  all  men  and 
women  can  and  do  so  govern  themselves  as  to  afford 
proper  and  adequate  examples  to  children  in  self- 
government. 

This  pupil  self-government  theory  is  worked  out 
elaborately  in  not  a  few  city  and  town  schools, — 
especially  in  the  grammar  grades  and  in  the  high  schools, 
— and  for  its  proper  exposition  requires  far  more  space 
than  can  be  given  to  it  in  this  treatment  of  a  much 
larger  theme  that  includes  it  as  but  one  of  many  features. 

Obviously,  within  each  of  these  theories  is  a  philos- 
ophy of  human  nature,  of  society,  of  life.  Obviously, 
the  theories  cannot  all  be  reconciled.  But  it  will  set 
us  forward  upon  our  argument  to  consider  what  these 
several  philosophies  are.  We  choose  one  or  another  of 
these  philosophies, — express  one  or  another, — when  we 
advocate  or  adopt  (or  both  advocate  and  adopt)  one 
or  another  of  these  practices. 

Within  the  force  -  theory  and  practices  of  school 
government  is  a  philosophy  that  men  are  essentially 
animals,  that  force  rules,  that  but  little  of  our  conduct 
is  rational,  that  therefore  "sparing  the  rod  spoils  the 
child,"  that  better  is  obedience,  though  so  enforced  as 
to  engender  hate,  than  disobedience  that  leaves  the  child 
with  contempt  for  authority,  that  society  is  far,  far 
greater  than  the  individual  and  must  overcome  him 
speedily  lest  he  become  lawless  and  injurious. 

This  view  has  had  the  support  of  some  great  names 
in  human  history.  "Of  all  animals,"  argued  Plato, 
"the  boy  is  the  most  unmanageable,  inasmuch  as  he  has 
the  fountain  of  reason  in  him  not  yet  regulated;  he  is 
the  most  insidious,  sharp-witted,  and  insubordinate  of 

150 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

animals.  Wherefore,  he  must  be  bound  with  many 
bridles.  One  who  comes  upon  him  (when  transgress- 
ing) and  does  not  inflict  upon  him  the  punishment  that 
he  deserves  shall  incur  the  greatest  disgrace."  *  And 
Comenius  said,  ''He  gave  no  bad  definition  who  de- 
clared that  man  was  *a  tractable  animal.'  And  indeed 
it  is  only  by  a  proper  education  that  he  can  become  a 
man."  ^  This  view,  however,  presents  many  philosoph- 
ical difficulties.  If  man  is  essentially  an  animal,  at 
what  stage  does  he  become  essentially  human?  Is  the 
process  automatic?  If  so,  of  what  value  is  education? 
If  not,  can  it  be  that  the  Maker  of  man  has  left  in- 
dividual men  at  the  mercy  of  their  fellows  to  deliver 
them  or  not  to  deliver  them  from  being  essentially 
animals?  It  is  indeed  a  childish  and  crude  view,  long 
outgrown  alike  by  metaphysicist  and  by  biologist,  and 
significant  to  us  only  because  it  reappears  from  time  to 
time  in  the  theories  of  unscholarly  and  unscientific 
writers  and  upon  the  lips  of  ignorant  and  sometimes 
angry  and  disillusioned  men. 

Behind  this  view  are  indeed  many  instructive  lessons 
and  some  warnings  of  human  history  that  will  doubt- 
less occur  to  the  readers  of  these  pages. 

Within  the  skill-theory  and  practise  of  school  control 
is  a  philosophy  that  men  are  essentially  rational,  that 
ideas  rule,  that  but  little  of  our  conduct,  and  that  only 
of  the  baser  kind  of  human  beings  and  of  better  men  in 
only  their  baser  moments,  is  brutish,  that  using  the  rod 
reduces  teacher  and  pupil  to  a  lower  than  their  natural 
level,  that  obedience  compelled  by  rod  or  threat  is 
worse  than  disobedience,  which  leaves  the  child  at  least 
without  hatred  of  his  superiors,  that  the  individual  is 

^  The  Laws,  Book  VII.  ^  The  Great  Didactic,  Chapter  I. 

151 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

a  fact  and  society  only  an  abstraction,  and  that  the 
child  whose  will  has  been  broken  by  force  is  certain  to 
make  a  worthless  or  a  sullen  adult. 

Said  Immanuel  Kant:  ''Horses  and  dogs  are  broken 
in,  and  man,  too,  may  be  broken  in.  But  it  is  not  enough 
that  children  should  be  merely  broken  in;  it  is  emi- 
nently important  that  they  learn  to  think.  According- 
ly, the  management  of  schools  should  depend  entirely 
upon  the  judgment  of  highly  enlightened  experts."^ 
According  to  Froebel,  "a  suppressed  or  perverted  good 
quality, — a  good  tendency,  only  repressed,  misunder- 
stood or  misdirected, — ^lies  originally  at  the  bottom  of 
every  shortcoming  of  man.  Hence,  the  only  and  the 
infallible  remedy  for  counteracting  any  shortcoming  or 
even  wickedness  is  to  find  the  originally  good  source,  the 
originally  good  side  of  the  human  being  that  has  been 
repressed,  disturbed  or  misled  into  the  shortcoming,  and 
then  to  foster,  to  build  up  and  then  properly  to  guide 
this  good  side.  Thus  the  shortcoming  or  wickedness 
will  at  last  disappear,  although  it  may  involve  a  hard 
struggle  against  habit  but  not  against  the  original  de- 
pravity of  man;  and  this  is  accomplished  the  more  surely 
and  rapidly,  for  man  at  heart  prefers  right  to  wrong."  ^ 

For  myself,  in  sailing  round  many  cities,  upon  many 
adventures,  I  may  indeed  say  as  one. who  has  known 
the  affections  and  the  virtues,  the  hatreds  and  the 
malice  of  men  that,  to  my  notion,  every  vice  is  the  re- 
sult either  of  some  arrest  in  development  or  of  some 
perversion  of  a  good  quality.  It  may  not  be  philo- 
sophically demonstrable  that,  as  Socrates  said,  "Knowl- 
edge is  virtue";  but  no  man  will  ever  rise  higher 
in  his  view  of  the  sin  of  others  than  in  the  prayer  of 

*  On  Pedagogy.  ^  On  the  Education  of  Man. 

152 


CONTROL   OF    THE    CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

Jesus  on  the  cross, — "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do." 

Behind  the  view  that  the  true  way  to  deal  with  con- 
duct is  intellectual  and  compassionate,  not  moral  and 
vindictive,  are  many  instructive  lessons  and  some 
warnings  of  human  history. 

Witlun  the  school-and-home  theory  of  class-ancl-pupil 
government  is  a  philosophy  that  men  are  essentially 
domestic  and  social  beings,  that  love  rules,  that  most 
of  our  conduct  is  emotional  and  controlled  by  affections 
for  kin  and  friends,  that  the  primary  social  institution 
is  the  family  and  its  ministers  are  the  father  and  the 
mother,  to  whom  the  pupil  belongs,  that  if  therefore 
corporal  or  other  physical  punishment  is  to  be  used, 
the  father  or  the  mother  is  to  use  it,  that  the  question 
whether  or  not  the  boy  or  girl  obeys  the  teacher  is  rela- 
tively unimportant,  provided  that  he  obeys  the  parent 
and  that  the  parent  duly  punishes,  reprimands  or  other- 
wise corrects  the  child  or  youth,  that  for  the  boy  or  the  girl 
the  home  is  the  all  important  social  institution,  and  the 
school  is  merely  an  agency  for  the  home,  and  that  so 
long  as  the  home  does  control  the  boy,  he  is  safely  on 
the  way  to  make  a  good  citizen,  churchman,  worker, 
and  otherwise  fit  member  of  adult  society.  "I  wanted 
to  prove,"  wrote  Pestalozzi,  "by  my  experiment  that 
if  public  education  is  to  have  any  real  value,  it  must 
imitate  the  methods  that  make  the  merit  of  domestic 
education."  ' 

This  view  also  has  much  warrant  in  history, — and 
yet  is  not  universally  true. 

Within  the  pupil  self-government  theory  is  a  philos- 
ophy that  justice  is  quite  as  discernible  and  quite  as 

'  On  the  Work  at  Stanz. 
153 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

authoritative  among  children  and  youth  as  among 
adults;  that  the  true  preparation  for  life  as  a  demo- 
cratic self-governed  man  or  woman  consists  in  a  demo- 
cratic school  life.  This  theory  asserts  that  boys  and 
girls  in  a  modern  American  school  are  quite  as  fit  as 
are  most  voters  and  office-holders  to  make  and  to  exe- 
cute laws.  Speaking  practically,  the  men  and  women 
who  as  teachers  establish  self-government  plans  in 
their  schools  say  that  just  as  adult  society  sets  up 
in  the  State  as  judges  and  in  the  Church  as  bishops 
learned  and  wise  and  well-matured  men,  so  the  school 
sets  up  the  teachers  as  the  final  court  of  appeal, — the 
forum  of  last  resort, — in  the  pupil  self-government 
scheme  of  social  organization  and  operation.  Let  the 
boys  and  girls  err,  if  they  must,  upon  some  occasions; 
they  are  getting  the  best  of  educations  thereby.  The 
one  way  to  learn  judgment  and  righteousness,  to  care 
for  truth  and  for  order  and  the  other  social  virtues,  is 
to  exercise  these  qualities  in  school.  \^The  boy,  who  is 
told  what  is  right  and  railroaded  therein  by  either  force 
or  persuasion,  becomes  the  dependent  man.  Self- 
reliance  must  begin  as  early  in  life  as  the  power  to 
choose  one's  course  and  to  persist  therein  begins. 

This  is  a  new,  a  generally  non-historical,  a  brilliantly 
philosophical  \dew,  yet  one  not  without  confirmation 
at  least  in  some  instances  in  the  experience  of  the 
race. 

Before  passing  in  detail  upon  these  theories  and  prac- 
tises, it  is  expedient  to  note  a  few  statistical  facts. 

First:  The  force- theory  still  prevails  in  over  forty 
States  of  the  Union  and  in  most  towns  and  cities. 

Second:  It  was  once  the  universal  view. 

Third:  Even  in  these  States  and  cities,  many  teachers 

154 


CONTROL    OF    THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

no  longer  "wield  the  rod"  or  otherwise  "cow  their 
pupils  "  into  submission. 

Fourth:  The  best  American  teachers  are  not  expo- 
nents of  this  theor3\  It  is,  however,  universal  in 
monarchical  Germany,  where  nearly  all  the  teachers 
are  men. 

Fifth:  The  skill-theory  is  the  law  of  the  entire  State  of 
New  Jersey  and  of  the  largest  city  of  the  nation,  New 
York.  It  is  universal  in  republican  France,  whereas  in  re- 
publican America  a  majority  of  the  teachers  are  women. 

Sixth:  It  is  the  theory  of  most  of  those  who  reject 
the  force-theory. 

Seventh:  It  is  the  practice  of  most  of  the  best- 
trained  teachers  and  of  the  most  successful  teachers. 

Eighth:  The  home-and-school  theory  works  well  in 
many  schools,  especially  in  private  and  endowed  schools 
and  in  the  public  schools  of  small  communities. 

Ninth:  Though  scarcely  gaining  ground,  it  disputes 
its  losses  every  inch  of  the  way  and  shows  a  vitality 
that  suggests  possible  recovery.  It  was  never  the  uni- 
versal view;  but  it  had  greater  vogue  a  century  ago 
than  the  skill-theory  and  was  the  first  theory  to  break 
the  omnipotent  universality  of  the  force-theory. 

Tenth:  The  pupil  self-government  theory  is  new,  is 
aggressive,  sometimes  succeeds  in  practice,  and  has 
much  fascination  for  several  different  kinds  of  en- 
thusiasts:— for  those  who  are  of  philosophical,  of  pliilan- 
thropic,  of  empirical,  of  radical  frames  of  mind. 

Eleventh:  It  introduces  an  elaborate  machinery  into 
school  affairs. 

Twelfth:  These  four  theories  will  all  survive  our  own 
generation,  and  must  be  reckoned  with  accordingly. 

Each  of  these  theories  fits  perfectly  one  and  only 

155 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

one  of  the  four  masculine  temperaments, — the  force- 
theory  fits  the  muscular  motor  individual's  views  of 
life  and  conduct,  the  skill-theory  the  nervous  motor,  the 
school-and-home  theory  the  vital  sympathetic,  and  the 
self-government  the  speculative.  From  the  fact  that 
most  teachers  belong  to  the  second  kind  of  humanity, 
it  is  fairly  safe  to  predict  that  the  skill-theory  will  gen- 
erally displace  the  force-theory  and  finally  be  recog- 
nized as  the  standard  of  American  practice  in  school 
discipline.  This,  however,  does  not  prove  that  it  is 
the  best  theory.  It  may  indeed  be  true  that  American 
schools  are  too  largely  controlled  and  taught  by  persons 
of  the  nervous  motor  temperament. 

With  these  general  and  perhaps  fairly  comprehensive 
propositions  before  us,  it  becomes  possible  to  deal  with 
these  theories  in  detail,  not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of 
choosing  between  them  as  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
how  to  supply  their  deficiencies  and  to  ameliorate  their 
severities  in  actual  practice.  It  is,  indeed,  seldom  pos- 
sible for  class  teachers  themselves  really  to  choose  be- 
tween these  methods. 

The  teacher  who  is  to  rule  his  class  (or  hers)  because 
the  children  or  youth  fear  his  (or  her)  power  to  inflict 
corporal  punislmaent  upon  them  is  thereby  relieved  of 
a  certain  kind  of  effort, — wliich  is  to  discover  a  way  to 
resolve  the  difficulties  in  the  character  and  ability  of 
the  mischievous,  of  the  disobedient,  of  the  restless  and 
inattentive  by  causing  internal  changes  in  their  views 
of  life  and  in  their  dispositions  toward  others  through 
discovery  and  realization  of  new  ideals.  Such  a  teacher 
has  a  short  cut  to  this  end, — ^in  the  rural  school,  he  whips 
the  boy  or  shuts  him  up  in  a  closet,  fastens  clothes- 
pins upon  his  fingers,  perhaps  knocks  liim  down.     In 

156 


CONTROL   OF    THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

the  city  school,  he  sends  the  boy  to  the  principal  for 
any  one  of  several  kinds  of  whipping, — on  the  hands 
with  a  ruler,  on  the  legs  with  a  rattan  or  a  rod  or  a 
switch.  (jThe  pain  sets  up  an  intellectual  and  moral 
reaction."^  How  severe  the  corporal  punishment  is  de- 
^  pends.  partly  upon  the  seriousness  of  the  offence,  the 
previous  record  of  the  offender,  his  size  and  age,  his 
social  standing,  and  upon  the  temperament,  health, 
and  judgment  of  the  one  who  punishes. 

Occasionally,  even  girls  and  those  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  of  age  are  the  subjects  of  corporal  punishment. 

It  is  true  that  in  New  Jersey  and  in  New  York  City, 
most  of  the  schoolmasters  and  mistresses  say  that  all  ne- 
cessity for  corporal  punisliment  has  entirely  passed  away. 
But  though  human  nature  either  in  the  teacher  or  in 
the  children  does  not  differ  in  New  Jersey  or  in  New  York 
City  from  human  natiu'e  as  exliibited  in  (say)  Connecti- 
cut or  Ohio  or  Texas,  most  schoolmasters  and  mistresses 
of  our  country  say  that  the  necessity  for  corporal  pun- 
ishment does  exist  and  will  exist  always.  As  one  who 
has  managed  city  school  systems  in  New  Jersey  and 
taught  in  New  York  some  fifteen  years, — as  well  as  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  where  corporal  punishment 
even  of  negro  children  almost  never  occurs, — I  happen 
to  know  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  school-atmosphere 
in  these  regions  is  rather  better  than  anywhere  that 
corporal  punishment  prevails.  As  one  who  has  visited 
schools  in  forty  different  States,  however,  I  know  that 
corporal  punishment  is  a  necessity  in  nearly  all  of  them. 
What  is  the  answer  to  the  riddle?  School  organization 
and  administration. 

In  order  to  govern  boys  and  girls  of  various  races, 
nationalities,  languages,   and   religions,   without  resort 

157 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

to  force,  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  following  features 
in  the  schools — viz.: 

First:  Teachers  of  adequate  scholarship,  training  and 
natural  ability.  They  must  be  professionally  selected 
for,  and  not  politically  introduced  into,  the  schools. 

Second:  They  must  have  tenure  of  office.  (In  New 
Jersey,  a  teacher  is  removable  only  upon  proof  of  in- 
competence in  a  regular  law-court.)  With  such  tenure, 
what  the  teacher  says  to  the  pupil  is  said  without  fear 
of  loss  of  position  through  offending  some  politician. 
The  teacher,  not  some  lay  board  member  or  the  boss 
behind  the  member,  is  the  school ;  and  every  boy  and 
parent  and  citizen  knows  the  fact.  There  is  no  need  of 
the  blow  of  a  rod  to  demonstrate  it  upon  the  palms  or 
the  thighs  of  a  small  boy. 

Third:  For  incorrigibles  and  habitual  truants,  there 
must  be  in  large  cities  special  individual  help  classes; 
and  throughout  the  State,  reform  schools  or  homes  to 
which  the  teachers  may  directly  commit  these  boys  and 
girls.  (The  intervention  of  a  prosecuting  attorney  often 
completely  foils  the  effort  of  teachers  to  put  naturally 
bad  boys  where  they  belong.) 

Fourth:  There  is  required  a  system  of  what  are 
usually  called  "manual  training"  courses, — e.  g.,  mat- 
weaving,  basketry,  bent-iron  work,  kiiife-work  in  wood, 
carpentry,  mechanical  drawing,  freehand  drawing,  color 
work,  outdoor  sketching,  sewing,  dressmaking,  millinery, 
cooking,  household  sanitation,  personal  hygiene  (partly 
through  physical  labor),  gardening.  This  system  lays 
the  foundations  for  agriculture,  metallurgy,  household 
management,  woodworking,  and  clothes-making.  In 
respect  to  discipline,  it  helps  realize  three  purposes: 
1st.  It  uses  the  surplus  physical  energy  of  boys  and 

158 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

girls  that  otherwise  goes  into  ''restlessness,"  mischief- 
making,  and  defiance  of  authority.  2d.  It  develops 
psychical  energy  for  use  in  the  so-called  ''scholastic" 
or  "intellectual"  studies  and  thereby  overcomes  in- 
attention, indolence,  and  similar  offences  against  proper 
school-behavior.  3d.  It  affords  a  perfect  means  of  dis- 
cipline in  two  ways: — I.  A  certain  kind  of  bad  boy  or 
girl  may  be  given  double  and  triple  amounts  of  manual 
work  to  do,  being  thereby  deprived  of  Iris  or  her  scholas- 
tic work.  II.  The  opposite  kind  of  bad  boy  may  be  de- 
prived of  the  privilege  of  his  or  her  manual  work  until 
reform  is  evident.  These  punislmients  operate  partly 
because  among  boys  and  among  girls  it  is  a  social  dis- 
grace to  a  boy  or  to  a  girl  to  be  treated  as  an  individual 
case,  to  be  isolated  from  the  mass,  as  it  were  to  be  con- 
sidered an  Ishmaelite. 

Fifth:  In  cities,  there  must  be,  as  a  matter  of  general 
school  administration,  a  process  by  which  occasional 
ofTenders  may  discover  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor 
is  long,  if  not  hard,  by  sending  him  first  to  the  principal's 
office,  next,  if  necessary,  to  that  of  a  district  superin- 
tendent, then,  if  still  necessary,  to  one  of  the  associate 
or  assistant  superintendents,  and  last  to  the  city  super- 
intendent, in  each  instance,  invariably  accompanied  by 
parent  or  guardian.  (In  two  years'  experience  in  a 
city  organized  as  above,  with  sixty  thousand  pupils, 
not  one  pupU  ever  actually  came  as  far  as  the  superin- 
tendent's office.  In -every  case,  those  started  thither 
either  disappeared  in  some  incorrigible  class  or  reformed 
in  the  course  of  this  process.) 

In  all  towns  and  cities,  it  should  be  customary  to  try 
boys  who  fail  of  good  conduct  in  another  school,  with 
another  teacher  and  other  comrades.    The  walk  out- 

159 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

side  the  ward  or  district,  the  contact  with  strangers,  the 
new  personaHty  of  the  teacher,  in  my  experience,  cures 
the  boy  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  The  method,  of  course, 
is  one  of  self-estrangement,  and  is  both  philosophically 
valid  and  practically  useful. 

But  where  one  (or  more)  of  these  features  of  a  correctly 
administered  school  system, — State  or  city, — is  wanting, 
corporal  punishment  may  be  necessary. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  teachers  in  our  schools  to-day, 
— those  who  get  their  good  recitations  from  their  pupils 
by  enforcing  order  among  them,  and  those  who  have 
order  by  getting  from  their  pupils  good  recitations.  The 
first  kind  of  teachers  get  interest,  study,  lessons  via 
management,  the  second  kind  get  the  results  of  manage- 
ment via  instruction.  Teachers  of  the  first  kind  are 
entirely  at  home, — at  ease, — in  schools  where  corporal 
punishments  and  threats  of  corporal  punisliment  are 
in  evidence  or  just  behind  the  scenes.  Teachers  of  the 
second  kind  are  not  interested  in  the  matter  for  them- 
selves. This  is  one  of  the  conditions  whereby  the  cor- 
poral punishment  system  lasts  so  long  and  continues 
so  general.  Its  defenders  are  ardent,  the  rest  care  but 
little.  Not  teachers  but  public  opinion  put  the  system 
out  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  the  City  of  New  York, 
and  the  District  of  Colmnbia. 

Where,  however,  there  is  no  authority  in  the  teacher 
as  such,  where  the  teacher  is  not  adequately  equipped 
by  nature,  by  general  scholarsliip  and  by  professional 
training  for  the  whole  work  of  educating  boys  and 
youth,  where  there  are  no  classes  for  incorrigibles 
and  no  reform  schools  or  homes,  where  there  is  no 
outlet  for  boyish  energy  in  manual  training  and  the 
arts  and  crafts,  where  pupils  can  appeal  immediately 

160 


I 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

to  politician,  newspaper  or  board  member  when  a 
postponed  punishment  is  threatened  as  on  the  way, 
there  corporal  punishment,  prompt,  effective,  and  duly 
apportioned  to  the  offence  is  for  the  teacher  who  be- 
heves  in  it  the  only  course.  In  all  such  places,  corporal 
punisliment  as  a  next-to-last  recourse  is  right;  and  for 
two  reasons: — 1st.  No  boy  should  grow  up  assuming 
that  he  can  xdolate  the  order  of  a  superior  or  the  laws 
or  conventions  of  polite  society,  and  go  scot-free.  It 
is  a  great  wrong  to  him.  The  rod  or  its  equivalent  de- 
scending upon  liim  promptly  before  some  master  of 
his  schoolmaster  or  mistress  can  intervene  saves 
him  from  contempt  for  teacher  and  school.  For 
tliis  reason,  the  German  philosopher  Hegel  asserted 
that  the  sole  valid  reason  for  punishment  is  to 
assert  the  moral  law.^  2d.  Since  most  children  go 
to  school  to  learn,  the  presence  of  noisy  or  mis- 
cliievous  outlaws,  unrebuked,  in  their  class  is  an  injury 
to  them.  To  say  tliis  is  not  to  assume  that  whipping 
or  other  corporal  punishment  always  immediately  and 
entirely  cures  school-boy  outlawry.  It  seldom  does  so 
cure  the  offender.  If  it  cured  one  offender  in  two, — if  on 
the  average  two  wliippings  made  the  bad  boy  good, — the 
force-theory  w^ould  be  the  universal,  unchallenged  prac- 
tice. But  it  has  no  such  record.  Corporal  punishment 
sometimes  causes  obedience  that  lasts  for  a  day  or  two; 
sometimes  it  tides  over  for  a  season.  In  a  few  instances, 
in  schools  employing  it  as  the  panacea  for  incorrigibility, 
insubordination,  disobedience,  truancy,  neglected  home- 
lessons,  class-room  inattention,  school-yard  "fights," 
street  rowdyism,  failure  to  pass  tests,  low  marks,  cor- 

^  By  the  penalty,  society  solemnly  affirms  the  violated  principle. 
— Outlines  of  the  Philosophy  of  Right. 

161 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

poral  punishment  effects  cures.  But  to  speak  of  an 
experience,  on  a  considerable  scale  in  one  fairly  large 
school,  I  have  found  in  fact  that  save  in  a  few  unusual 
and  easily  recognizable  cases,  the  remedy  is  worse  than 
the  disease.  In  this  elementary  school  of  a  thousand 
pupils,  the  average  number  of  all  kinds  of  whippings  by 
one  principal  in  his  last  year  of  service  was  sixty  a 
month,  and  the  average  nimiber  by  the  teachers  was 
twenty  per  class-room  each  month, — running  as  high  as 
ten  daily  in  some  of  the  intermediate  grade  rooms.  The 
next  principal  completely  overturned  the  practice;  and 
for  the  next  two  years  the  total  number,  with  far  better 
order  as  the  result,  was  eighteen  cases, — an  average  of 
nine  a  year  as  over  against  an  average  of  three  to  four 
thousand  a  year.  Of  course,  it  will  be  at  once  said  that 
the  earlier  practice  was  a  reign  of  brutality — which  is 
true,  for  in  many  instances  the  whippings  were  severe 
and  cruel.  But  the  noteworthy  facts  were  two:  1st,  that 
not  having  a  proper  tenure  of  office,  properly  trained 
teachers,  manual  training  courses,  a  class-room  for  in- 
corrigibles,  and  an  hierarchical  system  of  school  organiza- 
tion, the  second  principal  was  forced  to  occasional  severe 
corporal  punishments;  and,  2d,  that  by  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent approach  to  the  problem  of  order,  with  the  same 
corps  of  teachers,  nearly  all  of  them  habituated  to  the 
immediate  use  of  the  ferule  upon  the  least  suggestion  of 
disorder,  the  second  principal  secured  far  better  order 
than  did  the  first. 

To  be  specific:  In  the  latter  days  of  the  former 
regime,  school- yard  fights  were  so  common, — being  sev- 
eral every  day, — that  neighbors  often  had  to  interfere. 
In  the  second  year  of  the  corporal-punisliment-only-in- 
cxceptional  -  cases  regime,  the  total   number  of  fights 

1G2 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

in  a  school  population  of  five  hundred  boys,  rep- 
resenting thirty -seven  different  nationalities,  was 
seven. 

In  short,  in  poorly  organized  schools,  occasional  cor- 
poral punishment  is  a  sheer  necessity;  but  even  in  such 
schools,  frequent  punishment  sets  an  example  of  force 
that  both  boys  and  girls  imitate  on  their  playgrounds, 
causes  fierce  hatreds  of  the  teachers  by  many  boys  and 
girls,  prevents  that  reverence  for,  even  worship  of, 
teachers  which  is  the  true  ''mother"  of  intellectual  and 
moral  progress  in  children,  and  destroys  the  natural 
foundation  of  order  through  rational  self-control  in 
later  instruction  in  the  secondary  school. 

Upon  the  assumption  that  a  given  school-system 
cannot  be  reformed,  —  which  is  usually  true,  —  the 
principles  that  should  govern  the  infliction  of  corporal 
punishment  are  these — viz.: 

NEGATIVE   PRINCIPLES 

First:  No  mode  of  corporal  punishment  should  ever 
be  exercised  for  trivial  offences. 

Second:  Or  should  ever  be  employed  in  the  presence 
of  other  pupils  unless  they  are  joint  offenders. 

Third:  Or  should  ever  be  applied  unequally  to  equal 
offenders. 

Fourth :  Or  should  ever  be  applied  to  sick  or  anaemic 
or  crippled  or  neurasthenic  boys. 

Fifth: (Or  should  be  resorted  to  in  the  cases  of  any 
girls  of  any  age  whatsoever  either  by  women  teachers 
or  by  men.J 

Sixth:  Or  should  be  tried  when  any  other  available 

remedy  would  serve  equally  or  nearly  as  well. 
12  '  163 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

AFFIRMATIVE  PRINCIPLES 

First:  Corporal  punishment  should  bo  visited  upon 
healthy,  maUcious  boys.  I.  For  direct  defiance  of 
teachers.  11.  For  persistent  and  intentional  disobedi- 
ence of  school  rules.  III.  For  maltreatment  of  other 
and  smaller  boys.  IV.  For  such  playground  offences 
as  fighting,  playing  marbles  (against  orders)  for  money 
or  any  other  gambling  games,  and  blocking  school-lines 
in  fire-drills,  or  otherwise  imperilling  lives." 

Second:  In  those  communities  where  schools  are 
"looked  down  upon"  and  teachers  as  such  are  con- 
temned, corporal  punishment  should  be  visited  upon 
any  healthy  boys  who,  because  of  tliis  disposition  of 
adults  and  of  the  consequent  social  atmosphere  in 
their  conduct  or  remarks,  assume  that  teachers  are 
not  worthy  of  respect  and  act  accordingly  to  the 
defeat  of  conscientious  efforts  to  educate  them.  In 
other  words,  though  it  is  higlily  desirable  for  teachers 
to  rule  through  the  willing  and  spontaneous  obedience 
of  their  pupils,  wanting  such  obedience,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  them  to  rule  by  force  promptly  exercised. 

The  approved  forms  of  corporal  punishment  are  (1) 
blows  on  the  hands  by  ruler  or  strap  or  switch;  (2)  blows 
on  the  thighs  or  legs;  and  (3)  in  the. case  of  resistance 
to  these  modes,  spanking  bj''  hand.  When  in  a  com- 
munity whose  conditions  necessitate  corporal  punish- 
ment, even  tliis  "last  resort"  fails,  the  next  and  really 
last  move,  suspension  by  teacher  or  principal  or  even 
superintendent,  fails,  and  the  lay-authorities,  whether 
committee  or  board  or  school  visitors,  refuse  to  expel  a 
really  incorrigible  offender,  and  such  an  offender  returns 
to  school  a  victor,  there  is  but  one  thing  for  a  self- 

164 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS  AND    INDIVIDUAL 

respecting  teacher  to  do, — immediately  resign  and  de- 
part. Such  a  refusal  to  expel  is  the  plainest  and  ugliest 
form  of  request  to  the  teacher  or  principal  or  superin- 
tendent to  resign;  and  it  springs  from  an  absolute  con- 
tempt either  for  the  personal  occupant  of  the  teaching 
office  or  for  the  office  itself,  or  for  both. 

It  may  perhaps  be  profitable  to  consider  what  the 
most  successful  educator  of  ancient  days  had  to  say 
about  corporal  punishment  in  dealing  with  Roman 
youth.  Quintilian  wrote,  ''But  that  boys  should  suffer 
corporal  punishment,  though  it  be  a  received  custom,  I 
by  no  means  approve;  first,  because  it  is  a  disgrace  and 
a  punishment  for  slaves,  and  in  reality — as  will  be  evi- 
dent, if  you  imagine  the  age  changed — an  affront;  second- 
ly, because  if  a  boy's  disposition  be  so  abject,  as  not  to 
be  amended  by  reproof,  he  will  be  hardened  like  the 
worst  of  slaves,  even  to  stripes;  and  lastly,  because  if 
one  who  regularly  exacts  Ms  tasks  be  with  him,  there 
will  not  be  the  least  need  of  any  such  chastisement.  At 
present,  the  negligence  of  pedagogues  [^.  e.,  attendant 
slaves]  seems  to  be  made  amends  for  in  such  a  way  that 
boys  are  not  obliged  to  do  what  is  right,  but  are  pun- 
ished whenever  they  have  not  done  it.  Besides,  after 
you  have  coerced  a  boy  with  stripes,  how  will  you  treat 
him  when  he  becomes  a  young  man,  to  whom  such  a 
terror  cannot  be  held  out,  and  by  whom  more  difficult 
studies  must  be  pursued?  Add  to  these  considerations 
that  many  unpleasant,  even  shameful  things,  happen 
to  boys  when  being  whipped,  under  the  influence  of 
pain  or  of  fear;  and  such  shame  enervates  and  depresses 
the  mind  and  makes  them  shun  the  sight  of  the  people 
and  feel  a  constant  uneasiness.  If,  moreover,  there  has 
been  too  little  care  in  choosing  governors  and  tutors  of 

165 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

reputable  character,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  how  scan- 
dalously unworthy  men  may  abuse  their  privilege  of 
punishing,  and  what  opportunity  also  the  terror  of 
the  unliappy  children  may  sometimes  afford  to  others. 
No  man  should  be  allowed  too  much  authority 
over  an  age  so  weak  and  so  unable  to  resist  01-treat- 
ment."  ' 

Century  after  century,  the  protest  went  up  to  heaven, 
perhaps  from  no  other  man  more  earnestly  than  from 
Martin  Luther,  who  in  the  day  of  the  breakup  of  the 
old  order  declared, — "Now  since  the  young  must  leap 
and  jump,  or  have  something  to  do,  because  they  have 
a  natural  desire  for  it  which  should  not  be  restrained  (for 
it  is  not  well  to  check  them  in  everything),  why  should 
we  not  provide  for  them  such  schools,  and  lay  before 
them  such  studies?  By  the  gracious  provision  of  God, 
children  take  delight  in  acquiring  knowledge,  whether 
language,  mathematics  or  history.  And  our  schools  are 
no  longer  a  hell  or  purgatory  in  which  children  are  tor- 
tured over  cases  and  tenses,  and  in  which  with  much 
flogging,  trembling,  anguish  and  wretchedness  they 
learn  nothing.  The  world  has  changed,  and  things  go 
differently." ' 

In  this  changed  world  since  the  days  of  Quintilian 
and  changed  again  many  times  since  then,  there  are  no 
slaves  to  be  punished  with  blows;  and  we  have  set  out 
to  educate  all  men.  Ours  is  indeed  a  new  and  a  baffling 
problem,  for  school-going  is  no  longer  a  privilege  but  is 
a  compulsion,  and  suspensions  and  expulsions,  instead 

*  Institutes  of  Oratory  quoted  in  Painter's  Great  Pedagogical 
Essays.     90  a.d. 

^  Letter  to  the  Mayors  and  Aldermen  of  all  the  cities  of  Germany 
in  behalf  of  Christian  schools.     1524. 

166 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

of  causing  sorrow,  cause  in  some  youthful  breasts  a 
sense  of  relief  and  of  pleasure. 

Once  the  world  was  content  to  educate  the  strong 
and  brilliant  and  well-favored;  now  we  propose  to 
educate  the  mediocre,  the  dull,  even  the  feeble-minded 
and  the  defective.  Moreover,  we  have  given  over  the 
control  of  education  in  the  free  public  State-supported 
schools  to  the  democracy.  Small  wonder  then  that  not 
everywhere  can  we  place  the  enlightened  teacher  in 
attractive  surroundings  with  ample  equipment  and 
authority  to  educate.  We  have  tried  to  build  our 
educational  Rome  in  a  day;  and  we  have  almost  suc- 
ceeded. Perhaps  our  new  city  will  rise  complete  before 
many  years. 

But  already  there  are  communities  where  school 
government  by  good  teaching  is  possible;  and  in  such 
conmiunities,  the  better  system  of  managing  boys  and 
girls  as  individuals  and  in  classes  should  be  installed. 
This  system  involves  certain  points,  which  should  be 
set  forth. 

First:  Better  is  complete  obedience  slowly  won  than 
prompt  obedience  at  heart  sullen. 

Second :  Better  is  unconscious  and  spontaneous  obedi- 
ence than  any  other  kind. 

Third:  Better  is  even  somewhat  imperfect  obedience 
that  nevertheless  issues  from  admiration  for  the  teacher 
as  one  who  never  gets  angry  and  is  always  patient, 
reasonable  and  kind  than  outwardly  perfect  obedience 
when  in  the  soul  of  the  pupil  is  the  conviction  that  he 
or  she  is  only  bigger,  stronger  and  of  higher  authority 
(as  a  grown-up)  than  the  small  person  can  be. 

There  are  two  ways  to  break  horses.     One  is  to  let 

the  colt  run  the  range  until  pretty  well  grown  and  then 

167 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

to  "bust"  him, — with  lasso,  curb-bit,  rowel-and-spur, 
nail-studded  pigskin  lash,  loaded  saddle,  with  thumbs 
gouging  eyes  and  straps  suffocating  the  throat,  with 
ropes  hobbling  the  feet,  and  straps  circling  the  chest. 
The  colt  can  be  broken  so — sometimes  it  kills,  often  it 
ruins  the  spirit  forever.  It  is  a  quick  process,  with 
immediate  victory  or  defeat. 

The  other  way  to  break  a  colt  is  to  lead  liim  with  the 
halter  when  he  is  little,  to  pat  and  to  pet  him,  to  make 
him  slowly  bridlewise,  to  befriend  him  with  blanket  in  cold 
weather,  with  a  lump  of  sugar  or  bunch  of  clover,  to 
train  him  a  little  at  a  time  regularly;  in  short,  not  to 
break  him  at  all,  but  to  instruct  and  to  educate  him. 
Most  of  our  best  horses  come  into  harness  or  under  sad- 
dle gently.  Voice  and  wliip  to  them  are  signals  of  pur- 
pose, not  commands  of  violence.  Few  horses  ''school- 
trained  to  the  eight  gaits"  were  ever  taught  by  blows 
to  know  their  masters.  Most  good  horses  were  brought 
up,  as  it  were,  by  hand;  they  were  not  allowed  to  grow 
up  and  then  smashed,  beaten,  broken  into  submission. 
They  learned  their  good  manners  from  civilized,  patient, 
intelligent,  kind  and  well-mannered  men.  In  this  re- 
spect, many  stock  farms  in  Virginia,  in  Kentucky  and  in 
Iowa  are  decidedly  superior  to  some  schools  in  our  land. 

Logic  and  literary  custom,  sound  philosophy  and 
ordinary  common  sense  require  that,  in  most  cases,  one 
should  discuss  the  theory  of  a  matter  first  and  later 
present  its  mechanical  features.  But  such  is  the  prej- 
udice of  many  of  our  citizens  and  indeed  of  many  of 
our  teachers  that  one  who  undertakes  first  to  discuss 
the  virtues  of  our  human  nature  and  thereby  to  disclose 
that  the  best  means  of  developing  those  virtues  are  not 
corporal  punishments  and  other  penalties  can  get  little 

168 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

or  no  hearing.  But  let  us  now  proceed  openlj^  and  can- 
didly to  consider  definitely  what  we  wish  our  boys  and 
girls  to  become  as  men  and  women.  What  are  the  moral 
aims  of  education?  Let  us  consider  this  question  con- 
cretely with  reference  to  individuals. 

Evidently  the  moral  aims  of  education  may  be  stated 
in  pairs — viz.: 

I.  (1)  To  preserve  the  best  natural  qualities  of  each 
individual. 
(2)  To  develop  other  good  qualities  in  him. 
II.  (1)  To  eradicate  the  worst  natural  qualities. 

(2)  To    inhibit    the    development    of    other   bad 
qualities. 

III.  (1)  To  make  him  useful  to  himself. 

(2)  To  make  him  useful  to  others  and  to  society. 

IV.  (1)  To  make  it  safe  for  him  to  venture  out  into 

life;  i.  e.,  to  equip  him  to  make  a  living. 
(2)  To  make  it  safe  for  society  to  receive  him; 
i.  e.,  to  teach  him  a  livelihood  that  is  at  least 
not  injurious  to  others. 
V.  (1)  To  teach  him  to  respect  himself. 

(2)  To  teach  him  to  think  modestly  of  himself, 
VI.  (1)  To  develop  in  him  self-reliance  and  freedom. 
(2)  To  develop  in  him  much  respect  and  distinct 
sympathy  for  others. 
VII.  (1)  To  make  of  him  one  who  fears  God. 

(2)  To  make  also  of  him  one  who  loves  God. 
VIII.  (1)  To  give  him  bodily  health,  when  he  has  it  not, 
and  to  preserve  it  in  him,  when  he  has  it. 
(2)  To  give  him  wisdom. 

This  is  by  no  means  an  all-inclusive  or  exhaustive 
list;  but  it  is  of  sufficient  length  to  illustrate  the  point 
that  education  seeks  always  a  reconciliation  between 

169 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

apparent  opposites  or  at  least  unrelated  extremes.  It 
is  not  so  much  "the  golden  means"  of  Aristotle,  as  the 
unity  of  life,  taught  l)y  Jesus.  That  golden  means 
aflSrmed  things  in  this  fashion — viz.: 

One  extreme  is  timidity,  the  mean  is  courage,  the 
other  extreme  is  foolhardiness.  One  extreme  is  parsi- 
mony, the  middle  is  generosity,  the  other  extreme  is 
wastefulness.  Virtue  is  not  the  opposite  extreme  of 
vice,  but  a  moderation  between  reason  and  appetite, 
the  soul  in  man  and  the  brute  in  him. 

What  Jesus  saw  was  that  in  truth  we  get  one  of  the 
pair  by  seeking  the  other  or  to  avoid  the  other,  as  the 
case  may  be:  who  seeks  health  gets  wisdom,  who  seeks 
wisdom  gets  health:  who  loses  his  life  saves  it,  who 
would  save  it  loses  it.  It  is  a  doctrine  indeed  difficult, 
to  be  understood  only  in  parables.  But  it  distinctly 
concerns  every  educator  of  youth. 

Part  of  the  difficulty  that  our  teachers  encounter  in 
the  work  of  educator  proceeds  from  our  failure  to  ob- 
serve these  several  facts  and  principles  of  human 
nature — viz.: 

1.  We  take  no  merit  of  our  qualities  as  such,  though  we 
may  indeed  take  demerits  of  them.  One  who  is  by  nature 
frank,  open,  and  certain  deserves  no  credit  therefor:  this 
is  a  quality  in  him,  and  no  virtue.  And  yet  one  who  by 
nature  is  secret,  silent,  uncertain  deserves  and  gets  censure 
therefor.  It  seems  illogical,  but  it  is  a  fact.  A  quality  is 
no  virtue,  and  yet  may  be  a  vice. 

2.  We  may  appear  to  take  merit  of  our  qualities  when  it 
is  labor  and  anxiety  to  maintain  them.  And  yet  in  truth 
the  merit  is  not  in  the  c[ualities  but  in  the  integrity  or  unity 
of  character,  the  force,  the  struggle  against  their  overthrow. 

3.  Every  quality  has  its  defect:  the  equality  may  be  good, 

170 


CONTROL  OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

and  yet  the  defect  may  be  evil.  Frankness  is  good,  but  the 
defect  of  frankness  is  indifference  to  the  feehngs  of  others. 
Truthfulness  is  good,  yet  it  works — how  often! — ruin  to 
oneself  and  to  others.  Loyalty  is  the  capsheaf  of  all  the 
virtues,  yet  one  may  be  loyal  to  a  false  principle  or  to  a 
traitorous  leader.  Courage  is  the  seed  of  all  the  virtues  in 
men,  yet  it  has  sent  many  to  the  deserved  doom  of  properly 
"lost  causes." 

4.  We  human  beings  would  be  in  hard  case  were  there 
not  some  solution  of  the  enigma.  Aristotle  found  the  solu- 
tion in  "the  golden  mean."  Jesus  found  it  in  "seeking."  ^ 
According  to  the  Master  Teacher,  virtue  is  at  the  point  of 
strain.  One  deserves  credit  for  making  and  enduring  stress. 
The  strain  and  stress  come  at  the  focal  point  of  the  unity 
between  apparent  opposites.  You  and  the  neighbor  are 
not  one,  but  different.  Treat  him  like  yourself.  You  seek 
the  kingdom?  It  is  within  you.  We  owe  debts  to  God 
and  to  men:  let  us  forgive  the  debts  due  to  ourselves  and 
so  be  ourselves  forgiven.  The  future  appears  worrisome: 
consider  the  evil  of  to-day.  In  fact,  men  see  nearly  always 
the  wrong  thing!  We  praise  men  and  things  for  their 
qualities  that  are  good,  and  fail  to  condemn  our  own  selves 
for  not  getting  rid  of  the  c|ualities  in  ourselves  that  are 
vicious;  yet  a  good  quality  is  not  a  virtue  but  only  God's 
gift.  In  getting  rid  of  a  bad  quality,  do  it  thoroughly.  Be 
born  again.  It  is  not  enough  to  wash  the  outside  of  the 
platter  or  to  whiten  sepulchres.  Hypocrites  are  "as  graves 
that  appear  not." 

It  is  a  striking  item  of  the  evidence  of  the  unity  of 
mind  that  all  of  us  agree  that  to  do  right  is  virtue.  Now 
"to  do  right"  involves  what  we  must  call  intellectual 

' "  He  that  seeketh  findeth."  "  Love  your  enemies."  "  The  Son 
of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

operations,  moral  energy,  and  emotional  relations.  We 
must  know  the  riglit,  will  to  do  it,  and  do  it  joyously. 
Nearly  always  to  do  right  concerns  others.  And  it  is 
a  striking  confirmation  of  the  theory  here  presented 
again, — for  it  is  not  new  but  the  essence  of  liistoric 
religion, — that  to  do  right  is  never  easy.  When  there 
is  no  opposition  within  or  without  us,  neither  we  our- 
selves nor  any  others  ever  think  of  noticing  that  we  are 
doing  right.  In  other  words,  one  does  right  or  wrong 
always  at  some  point  of  personal  and  inner  or  of  social 
and  outer  stress  or  strain. 

It  is  a  subtle  doctrine,  the  outcome  of  which  is  con- 
sidered educationally  precisely  this. — All  the  glory  is  in 
the  striving  to  overcome.  "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight: 
I  have  kept  the  faith";  and  what  is  the  crown?  It  is 
a  crown  of  more  life,  more  opportunities  to  fight  for  the 
faith, — that,  not  less,  not  other.  It  follows  inerrantly 
that  much  of  the  old  familiar  talk  of  our  schools  about 
the  virtues  will  not  stand  the  test.  We  must  sift  the 
things  that  are  really  good  out  from  the  rest;  and  every 
one  of  these  good  things,  be  it  known,  is  some  mode  of 
endeavor,  every  one.  In  this  scale,  to  the  naturally 
cheerful,  good-natured  boy  comes  not  a  word  of  praise 
for  his  kindheartedness  and  sunshine;  yet  to  the  boy 
who  is  naturally  gloomy  and  unsympathetic  but  who 
has  set  out  to  win  a  better  nature,  all  praise.  How 
often  the  neat  and  tidy  girl  is  conscious  of  the  unkempt 
and  untidy!  Her  virtue  is  not  in  the  neatness  and 
tidiness,  but  it  may  yet  be  in  her  effort  to  tliink  kindly  of 
and  to  help  those  who  are  not  like  herself.  That  prayer 
— "  I  thank  God  I  am  not  as  other  men  are!"  is  precisely 
the  most  wicked  of  all  attitudes.  The  thrifty  should 
pray  for  generosity,  the  courageous  for  caution;    the 

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CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

materialist  for  vision  and  the  dreamer  for  good  sense; 
and  all  for  charity. 

And  the  place  for  inculcating  all  these  endeavors  to 
change  and  to  cleanse  and  to  progress  is  in  our  schools. 
In  developing  and  testing  virtue,  we  should  set  aside 
in  our  minds  these  prescriptive  hierarchies  of  the 
qualities; — punctuality,  regularity,  promptness,  silence, 
obedience  to  teachers  and  to  rules,  kindness,  self-reliance, 
social  sympathy,  cleanliness,  orderliness,  neatness  and 
tidiness,  accuracy,  thoroughness,  frankness,  sincerity, 
consistency,  courage,  fortitude,  industry,  justice,  truth- 
fulness, temperance,  nobility,  honor,  loyalty,  economy, 
patriotism,  foresight,  prudence — there  are  two  hundred  of 
them  easily  distinguishable — ;  and  fix  our  minds  resolutely 
upon  the  fact  that  all  virtue  consists  in  endeavor  to  attain 
without  hypocrisy  such  qualities  as  we  do  not  yet 
have,  and  to  maintain  those  good  qualities  that  the 
"  world"  would  destroy.  How  hard  and  base  is  the  man 
who  has  all  the  best  of  these  qualities, — mth  no  desire 
for  yet  more!  And  yet  baser  is  one  who  surrenders  his 
integrity  of  soul  when  the  battle  goes  hard  against  him. 

In  the  light  of  this  argument,  it  is  plain  enough  that 
we  are  not  to  be  greatly  concerned  over  incentives  to 
virtue.  Prizes  that  lead  us  to  seek  knowledge  and  skill 
not  for  themselves  but  as  means  to  other  ends;  privileges 
that  lift  us  to  special  rank  among  our  fellows;  immuni- 
ties for  ourselves  that  mark  our  former  equals  as  in- 
feriors; fear  of  blows,  of  disgrace,  or  of  other  penalties; 
desire  of  honors;  hope  of  future  good: — all  these  things, 
it  is  now  quite  evident,  can  only  thwart  the  true  pur- 
pose of  school  discipline,  which  is  to  make  of  the  boy 
something  better  than  he  now  is  and  better  than  he 
would  probably  be  without  that  discipline.    To  attain 

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CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

such  an  ideal,  there  is  but  one  and  only  way, — the 
self-activity  of  the  boy. 

We  may  be  compelled  by  some  external  exigency,  for 
want  of  time  or  more  probably  for  want  of  patience  in 
ourselves  or  sometimes  for  want  of  sufficient  intelligence 
in  the  boy  or  otherwise,  to  induce  him  violently  to  sub- 
mission and  quiet, — for  the  sake  of  other  boys  and  girls. 
Not  once  in  a  thousand  times  do  we  punish  his  body  by 
blows  or  by  detentions  or  his  spirit  by  sarcasms  or  other- 
wise— for  the  sake  of  that  very  boy.  And  yet  the  bad 
boy  who  is  satisfied  with  his  qualities,  good  and 
bad, — all  such  are  bad  and  only  such  are  bad — is  the 
very  boy  for  whom  all  these  theories  and  practices  of 
school  discipline  have  been  devised. 

The  skill-theory  of  school  control  involves  knowing 
one's  boys  and  girls.  With  such  knowledge,  merely  by 
seating  them  with  due  relation  to  one  another  and  to 
the  teacher,  nearly  all  school-room  disorder  in  an  aver- 
age class  may  be  omitted.  These  are  some  of  the  prin- 
ciples— viz.: 

1.  The  vain  boy  or  girl,  who  misbehaves  in  order  to  ap- 
pear a  hero  or  heroine  before  the  schoolmates,  should  be 
put  into  the  rear  corner  seat.  Such  a  pupil  is  usually  ideo- 
motor  (with  long,  narrow  face  and  slender  body). 

2.  The  sneaking  sly  pupil  who  renders  eye-service  but 
misbehaves  when  "teacher  isn't  looking"  belongs  in  the 
front  seat  nearest  to  the  teacher's  desk.  Such  a  pupil  also 
is  usually  of  the  nervous  or  ideo-motor  type. 

3.  Never  put  a  good  girl  in  front  of  a  bad  boy,  but 
preferably  at  his  back. 

4.  In  mixed  classes,  it  is  usually  best  to  put  the  sexes 
in  alternate  files  or  rows;  but  the  rule  need  not  be  rigid. 

5.  As  the  eye  does  not  catch  movements  in  the  crowded 

174 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

center  of  the  picture  quite  so  well  as  at  front  and  sides,  and 
as  there  are  more  temptations  to  disorder  at  the  center  of 
the  room,  it  is  usually  wise  to  put  the  merely  restless  pupils 
in  the  front  row  or  in  the  side  files. 

6.  Do  not  shame  a  bad  boy  by  putting  him  where  there 
are  four  girls  at  front,  back,  and  sides;  but  when  possible, 
isolate  him  with  a  vacant  seat  in  front  and  good  boys 
around  him.  A  bad  boy  does  not  yet  clearly  see  himself 
as  he  is  but  is  secretly  or  openly  self-satisfied.  His  curse 
is  pride. 

7.  Muscular-motor  boys  (with  square  faces  and  strong 
bodies)  may  be  presumed  to  be  orderly  boys  in  conduct. 
The  speculative  boys  (with  triangular  faces  and  slender 
bodies)  may  be  presumed  to  be  thoughtful  boys  in  conduct 
but  not  very  useful  in  stimulating  other  boys  to  loyalty  to 
teacher  and  school.  Their  day  of  personal  leadership,  if  it 
ever  comes,  lies  years  and  years  ahead.  The  vital,  corpu- 
lent, cheerful  boys  may  be  presumed  to  be  indolent  and  in- 
different.    Do  not  put  two  of  them  in  juxtaposition. 

8.  It  is  not  wise  to  offer  good  seats  as  rewards  of  orderly 
behavior.  It  is  not  right  indeed  to  offer  any  rewards  of 
any  kind  for  orderly  behavior.  This  defeats  virtue  by 
giving  a  false  aim  to  endeavor. 

9.  While  it  is  expedient  not  to  seat  in  juxtaposition  any 
two  pupils  who  cordially  dislike  one  another  or  are  mu- 
tually antipathetic,  it  is  equally  inexpedient  to  set  chums 
in  such  contiguity  as  facilitates  whispering,  fond  glances, 
and  the  passing  of  notes. 

10.  Reseat  once  a  month,  "playing  no  favorites." 
Whether  each  pupil  should  have  a  new  seat  will  depend 
upon  many  conditions.  When  all  seats  are  well-lighted  and 
there  is  no  "cold  corner  "in  winter,  with  a  class  not  troubled 
with  an  exceeding  number  of  disorderly  boys  and  with  girls 
who  whisper,  such  monthly  reseating  need  not  be  complete. 

11.  Sometimes  a  beneficial  change,  not  obvious  to  the 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

teacher  to  whom  the  class-room  scene  is  familiar,  will  be 
discovered  at  once  by  the  principal  or  by  a  fellow-teacher. 
Let  some  one  else  by  invitation  look  over  the  room.  Per- 
haps he  or  she  will  see  a  near-sighted  or  slightly  deaf  boy  or 
girl  who  belongs  "up  front";  or  an  overgrown  pupil  who 
belongs  in  the  rear  of  the  room. 

In  order  of  consideration  next  after  correct  seating 
of  the  pupils  is  their  proper  arrangement  in  the  march- 
ing lines.  It  is  the  custom  to  arrange  the  boys  strictly 
in  order  of  height  and  the  girls  likewise,  with  the  short- 
est boy  and  girl  leading  their  respective  lines.  Often, 
this  custom  may  well  be  ignored.  Sometimes,  the  order 
should  be  exactly  reversed.  Sometimes,  the  lines 
should  be  broken  into  groups.  But  whatever  be  the 
marching  order,  every  pupil  should  know  his  niunber 
and  place;  and  report  in  it  accordingly.  It  is  desirable 
to  place  the  control  of  the  lines  as  much  as  possible 
under  their  leaders,  for  the  teacher  has  many  other 
duties  at  the  times  before  and  after  school  and  at  re- 
cesses besides  seeing  that  the  lines  move  promptly, 
regularly,  and  smootlily. 

For  the  control  of  the  class  in  its  movements  in  group 
or  as  individuals  when  changing  from  one  recitation  to 
another  or  to  a  study  period, — putting  books  away, 
handling  papers,  going  to  the  blackboard,  going  on  er- 
rands to  the  teacher's  desk,  to  the  dictionary,  to  the 
waste-basket,  to  the  supply-closet  or  out  of  the  room, — 
it  is  expedient  to  discover  the  golden  mean  between  too 
many  formalities  and  the  freedom  that  in  cliildren  and 
youth  soon  becomes  license.  How  formal  the  teacher 
should  be  depends  partly  upon  temperament  and  upon 
experience  and  yet  mainly  upon  the  class  itself. 

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CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

Two  principles  are,  however,  discernible: — 

First:  Begin  with  at  least  as  much  of  formal  system 
as  is  likely  to  be  reciuired  at  anv  time  later.  It  is 
easier  to  relax  from  severity  than  to  stiffen  and  to 
straighten  up  from  slovenliness  and  slouching.  Especial- 
ly should  young  and  relatively  inexperienced  teachers 
begin  with  sufficient  rigorousness. 

Second:  Keep  at  least  enough  of  the  formalities  to 
train  the  pupils  to  orderly  group-action.  The  habit  of 
working  in  step  with  one's  fellows  is,  in  itself,  a  valu- 
able and  educative  acquisition  especially  in  a  relatively 
free  democracy  such  as  ours. 

Among  the  devices  sometimes  of  value  are  such  as 
these — viz. : 

I.  Changing  recitations  (for  class  or  section  or  group) . 

1.  One  tap  of  bell  (or  similar  signal).     Close  books. 

2.  Two  taps.     Put  books  away. 

3.  Three  taps.  Take  out  new  books,  place  on  desk  and 
set  in  order. 

4.  One  tap.     All  attention, — recitation  begins. 

II.  Errands  out  of  room. 

On  leaving,  pupil  writes  name  on  blackboard,  with 
time  of  exit.     On  returning,  adds  time  of  return — e.  g.: 

Charles  Wilson     10:05  A.M.     10:09  A.M. 

At  the  end  of  the  school-day,  the  teacher  then  has  a 
record  of  all  such  cases. 

Teachers  should  not  go  into  details  as  to  why  the 

child  cares  to  leave  the  room.     No  two  boys  of  the  same 

room  should  be  allowed  to  be  absent  at  the  same  time, 

save  in  exceptional  circumstances.     But  permission  to 

go  should  otherwise  invariably  be  granted.     In  case  the 

177 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

teacher  suspects  that  this  universal  privilege  is  being 
abused,  inquiry  may  be  made  of  parents;  and  upon 
proof,  the  time  lost  may  be  made  up  after  school  double 
or  treble  or  be  atoned  for  by  some  extra  task. 

III.  Passing  papers  forward  for  inspection  by  the 
teacher. 

1.  Order  the  pupils  in  each  file  to  pass  their  papers  for- 
ward to  the  front. 

2.  Appoint  the  first  pupil  in  one  of  the  outside  files  of 
desks  as  monitor  to  collect  the  papers,  and  to  place  them 
on  the  teacher's  desk. 

IV.  Blackboard  work. 

1.  Count  off  nine  pupils — 1,  2,  3, — 1,  2, 3, — 1, 2, 3, — and 
assign  to  each  pupil  numbered  "1"  the  first  problem,  to 
those  numbered  "2"  the  second,  etc.,  and  have  them  place 
themselves  at  the  blackboard  in  due  alternation.  (Or 
count  off  twelve  pupils  and  assign  four  different  problems, 
similarly.) 

2.  Give  the  same  problems  to  the  pupils  of  the  class  re- 
maining at  their  desks,  appointing  some  to  follow  those 
numbered  "1"  at  the  blackboard,  others  those  numbered 
"2,"  etc. 

Straggling  back  and  forth  from  desk  to  board  should  be 
corrected,  and  a  suitable  time-limit  set. 

V.  The  fire-drill. 

Twice  in  my  immediate  school  experience,  school 
panics  have  been  saved.  Once,  a  fire  actually  broke 
out,  from  a  match  thrown  by  a  careless  pupil  under  a 
wainscoting.  In  this  instance,  the  drill  worked  per- 
fectly; and,  by  a  telephone  message  to  fire  quarters, 
the  building  was  saved  with  but  slight  loss. 

Upon  the  other  occasion,  four  street  gamins  just  be- 

178 


CONTROL   OF    THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

yond  the  compulsory  school  age  came  into  a  very  large 
building  at  night,  with  the  assembly  hall  on  the  third 
floor  densely  thronged.  They  put  out  all  the  lights  on 
the  lower  floors,  rang  the  fire-gong,  and  yelled  "Fire!" 
intending  to  stampede  the  audience.  They  did  stam- 
pede some  sixty  adults;  but  the  children  duly  formed 
quietly  in  drill-lines,  checked  the  other  adults  thereby, 
and  gave  the  principal  of  the  school  a  chance  to  explain 
in  clarion  tones  that  there  was  really  no  fire.  In  other 
words,  the  cry  of  "Fire!"  would  have  stampeded  the 
entire  audience;  but  the  very  fire-signal,  meant  to 
arouse  the  crowd  to  panic,  automatically  suggested 
order  to  the  pupils. 

In  preparing  for  fire-drifls,  the  following  suggestions 
may  be  useful — viz.: 

A.  Let  every  door  of  exit  and  on  the  way  thereto  have  a 
proper  tender, — usually  two  tenders. 

B.  Let  every  line  know  by  information  and  by  drill  just 
the  course  it  is  to  take  out  of  the  building. 

C.  So  organize  the  lines  that  there  will  be  a  safe  order  of 
precedence. 

D.  In  a  school-house  with  two  stairways,  drill  for  all  to  go 
down  one  way  or  all  the  other;  with  three  stairways,  all 
down  the  three  or  two  or  one;  etc. 

E.  Until  the  habit  is  fixed,  drill  at  least  three  times  a 
week,  then  twice  or  three  times  each  month. 

F.  Use  otherwise  unusual  and  yet  fixed  gong  signals ;  as, 
two  strokes,  pause,  two  strokes,  for  one  kind  of  exit;  two, 
pause,  four,  for  another  kind.  (It  is  best  to  have  a  dif- 
ferent sounding  gong  for  fire-drills  from  that  used  for  reci- 
tations. When  electric  signals  are  used,  these  should  be 
sounded  with  unmistakable  counts;  as,  one,  pause,  three, 
pause,  two,  etc.). 

13  179 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

G.  Slow-walking  dismissals,  not  over  two  lines  to  a  stair- 
wa}^  make  the  best  standard  drills.  Mere  speed  is  not 
requisite. 

A  panic  is  worse  than  a  fire.*  The  main  purpose  of 
the  drill  is  to  avoid  the  panic;  the  purpose  is  not  merely 
to  escape  from  the  building. 

Upon  this  skill-theory  of  school  government,  there  is 
a  bearing  of  another  matter  even  more  important  than 
a  clear  understanding  of  the  mechanics  of  school  routine. 
Some  teachers  are  greatly  disturbed  by  trivial  disorders 
in  their  recitations,  especially  at  the  beginning.  Tliis 
disturbance  is  in  themselves  rather  than  in  the  pupils, 
for  poised  and  deliberate  teachers  ignore  all  trivial  dis- 
orders and  proceed  trusting  to  the  interest  to  be  aroused 
in  the  topic  to  bring  the  entire  room  to  the  desirable 
quiet  and  attention.  There  are  but  three  exceptions  to 
the  general  principle:  — Ignore  trivial  disorders.  The 
first  exception  is  unless  it  seems  likely  to  develop  into 
larger  disorder;  the  second  is  unless  it  seems  to  be  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  start  general  disorder;  and  the 
third  is  unless  the  pupil  guilty  of  the  disorder  is  one  who 
so  needs  reproof  on  the  spot,  because  of  a  general  ten- 
dency to  make  trouble,  as  to  warrant  setting  aside  the 
immediate  good  of  the  class  as  a  whole,  through  pro- 
ceeding with  the  recitation,  as  to  warrant  the  delay  of 
a  prompt  and  adequate  reproof.  The  judgment  of  teach- 
ers is  tested  often  upon  this  kind  of  situation. 

The  foregoing  discussion  of  the  mechanics  of  skilful 
class  organization  and  management  shows  how  neces- 

^  New  school-houses  should  be  as  nearly  panic-proof  as  they  are  fire- 
proof. To  be  panic-proof,  they  need  adequate  but  not  too  wide  halls 
and  stairways.  Wide  halls  and  dark,  narrow  stairs  with  small  dooi"s 
make  a  dangei'ous  combination. 

180 


CONTROL  OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

sary  it  is  that  the  teacher  shall  know  his  pupils,  his 
subjects,  and  the  technique  of  teaching/  In  all  open- 
ness of  mind,  let  us  agree  that  teachers  who  really  know 
their  children, — their  homes,  their  powers  and  weak- 
nesses, their  tendencies,  interests,  fears,  dispositions, — 
who  really  know  their  subjects  in  their  general  scope 
and  in  their  details,  and  who  have  seriously  considered 
how  best  to  present  these  subjects  to  these  very  pupils, 
will  be  so  full  of  their  themes  and  of  a  sense  of  the  needs 
of  their  pupils  that  it  will  take  rather  serious  disorders 
to  turn  them  aside  from  their  proposed  lessons.  And 
yet  it  will  not  do  to  proceed  to  impart  knowledge  in  a 
roomful  of  a  buzzing  confusion  of  noises  and  move- 
ments. Here,  as  it  usually  is  in  practical  matters,  the 
middle  course  is  right  because  it  is  wise. 

The  home-and-school  theory  of  school  discipline  as- 
sumes that  the  true  center  of  interest  for  the  child  is  in 
the  home.  In  the  cases  of  homes  of  culture,  of  family 
affection,  and  of  economic  opportunity,  this  is  the  fact. 
But  such  homes  in  many  cities  are  no  longer  the  com- 
mon lot  of  cliildren  and  of  youth.  In  most  cases  in 
city  schools,  teachers  may  find  in  this  theory — that  the 
center  of  gravity  in  the  child's  life  is  outside  of  the 
school  sphere — rather  aggravation  than  assistance.  In 
these  times,  most  parents  do  not  care  to  help  their  chil- 

*  "Let  us  now  speak  of  the  manner  of  teaching  and  imparting 
them  (songs  and  melodies  and  rhythms),  and  the  persons  to  whom, 
and  the  times  when,  they  are  severally  to  be  imparted.  As  the 
shipwright  first  lays  down  the  lines  of  the  keel,  and  draws  the  design 
in  outline,  so  do  I  seek  to  distinguish  the  patterns  of  life,  and  lay 
down  their  keels  according  to  the  nature  of  different  men's  souls; 
seeking  truly  to  consider  by  what  means,  and  in  what  ways,  we 
may  go  best  through  the  voyage  of  life." — Plato,  The  Laws,  Book 
VII. 

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CLASS   TEACHING  AND    MANAGEMENT 

dren  with  liome  lessons  or  to  punish  them  for  dis- 
obedience or  other  misconduct  at  school,  but  resent 
throwing  any  burdens  from  the  school  into  the.  home. 
Such  parents  as  are  honestly  desirous  of  lending  their 
aid  to  help  the  children  at  school  should  be  called  upon 
to  do  so  in  whatever  ways  seem  open  to  the  teacher. 

To  illustrate: — ^The  boy  is  constantly  restless  and  natu- 
rally inattentive  in  school;  and  the  expostulations  of  the 
parents  at  home  are  of  no  avail,  partly  because  they  do  not 
understand  what  the  school-room  rec|uirements  are  and 
wherein  their  boy  fails.  With  some  parents,  an  accepted 
invitation  to  spend  a  day  at  school  observing  the  regular 
routine  opens  their  eyes  marvellously.  What  they  discover 
is  not  that  their  boy  is  restless  and  inattentive,  which  they 
probably  knew,  but  that  he  doesn't  care  to  change  his  dis- 
position and  conduct  in  this  respect, — in  short,  that  he  is 
not  simply  "a  trial"  to  his  teacher  because  these  cpalities 
disturb  the  class-room  but  that  he  is  bad  in  himself  in  that  he 
is  proud  of  his  qualities  and  self-satisfied. 

Again: — ^The  pupil, — usually  a  boy,  sometimes  a  girl, — 
shirks  the  home  lessons,  asserting  either  that  none  are  as- 
signed or  that  "they're  easy,  and  I've  already  done  them." 
In  such  a  case,  either  send  a  note  to  the  home  (perhaps  by 
mail  or  by  a  different  pupil)  or  ask  one  of  the  parents  to  call 
at  the  school  to  talk  over  the  matter.     , 

A  third  instance: — The  pupil  has  exceptional  talent, — as 
in  drawing  or  in  music  or  in  history, — such  talent  as  is  not 
sufficiently  exercised  in  the  school  treatment.  Here  by  in- 
forming the  parents  of  the  fact,  they  may  be  able  to  give  to 
him  private  lessons  or  to  buy  bool-:s  of  especial  value  for  his 
library  or  otherwise  to  develop  him  as  his  gift  warrants. 

A  fourth  instance: — ^The  converse  of  the  above  is  true, 
and  the  pupil  has  some  special  defects,  for  the  remedying  or 
relief  of  which  the  aid  of  the  parent  may  be  invoked.    The 

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CONTROL   OF    THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

defects  of  school-children  are  many  and  various,  often 
subtle.  The  entire  subject,  here  suggested,  is  sufficient  in 
itself  to  employ  the  energies  of  a  teacher  for  a  lifetime  of 
investigation.  Each  one  of  them  indeed  is  the  subject  of 
the  life-study  of  many  specialists.  The  class  teacher  even 
in  cities  with  medical  inspectors  and  with  examining  oculists, 
aurists,  anthropometrists,  alienists,  and  expert  physical  and 
other  supervisors  still  needs  to  know  the  superficial  signs 
and  evidences  of  such  defects  as  are  suggested  as  fol- 
lows— viz.: 

I.  Eyesight:  A.  Near-sightedness.  This  displays  it- 
self in  the  inability  of  the  pupil  to  read  print  or  to  draw 
objects  held  at  a  distance.  The  normal  distance  for 
reading  11-point  type  (the  main  type  of  this  book)  is 
eighteen  inches/  The  effects  of  near-sightedness  not 
corrected  early  in  life  by  proper  eye-glasses — to  be  pre- 
scribed by  an  oculist  (an  eye-doctor,  not  an  optician) — 
are  morbidness,  narrowness  of  mental  vision,  physical 
inactivity  in  outdoor  exercises,  and  usually  an  incurable 
selfishness. 

B.  Far-sightedness.  One  who  is  far-sighted  does  not 
see  small  objects  near  at  hand  clearly.  Reading  causes 
headaches  and  irritableness,  and  becomes  irksome. 
The  effects  of  far-sightedness  not  corrected  early  in  life 
by  proper  eye-glasses  are  (1)  dislike  of  study  and  all  other 
school  work  that  requires  close  attention;  (2)  superficial- 
ity of  mental  vision;  (3)  an  unusual  interest  in  outdoor 

'  Often,  I  have  seen  teachers  test  this  not  by  measuring  off 
eighteen  inches  but  by  holding  a  book  at  the  right  distance  for  them- 
selves, being  totally  unaware  that  they  themselves  were  either  far- 
sighted  or  near-sighted.  "Man  is  the  measure  of  all  things,"  said 
Pythagoras.  "I  am  a  man,"  therefore,  "I  am  the  measure  of  all 
things,"  is  their  naive  "pragmatic"  philosophy. 

183 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

games;  and  (4)  often  lack  of  persistence  with  scattering 
of  interests. 

C.  Astigmatism.  One  with  astigmatic  eyes  does 
not  see  straight  lines.  His  visual  images  are  crooked. 
There  is  also  an  imevenness  of  light,  some  parts  of  the 
images  being  too  bright,  others  gray,  even  black.  Serious 
astigmatism  makes  good  school  work  impossible.  It 
impedes  reading,  compels  poor  handwriting,  causes 
''nervousness"  and  self-distrust.  When  not  corrected 
early  in  life,  astigmatism  causes  in  the  youth  who  nev- 
ertheless persists  in  study  nervous  exhaustion,  even 
insanity. 

D.  Esophoria,  exophoria,  hyperphoria,  and  similar 
maladjustments  of  the  eye  muscles.  In  these  cases, 
the  eyes  do  not  focus  naturally  at  the  normal  distance 
of  eighteen  inches;  but  either  too  near,  or  too  far  away, 
or  not  at  all.  When  not  corrected  either  by  prismatic 
lenses  or  by  surgical  operations,  in  nearly  all  cases,  the 
sight  of  one  or  the  other  eye  is  lost.  Few  persons  have 
eyes  with  equal  powers  of  vision,  one  usually  being 
stronger  than  the  other.  These  defects  of  crossed,  or 
wall,  or  oblique  eyes,  —  or  tendencies  thereto,  wliich 
cause  excessive  physical  strain, — ^are  without  respect  to 
the  choice  of  the  eye;  and  it  is  quite  as  common  to  lose 
the  sight  of  the  better  eye  as  of  the,  worse  because  of 
these  external  eye-muscle  maladjustments. 

Class  teachers  do  well  to  remember  that  scientific 
tests  of  over  2,300,000  pupils  show  that  34  per  cent,  of 
them  suffer  from  eye  defects.  In  a  class  of  fifty  pupils, 
on  the  average,  seventeen  require  eye-glasses  or  eye 
operations.  The  cemeteries,  the  insane  asylums,  the 
jails,  the  menial  walks  of  life,  the  ranks  of  day-laborers 
get  most  of  their  recruits  from  the  boys  and  girls  whose 

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CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

eyes  were  defective  from  birth.  To  wear  correct  glasses 
is  for  them  redemption  from  the  curse  of  not  being  able 
truly  to  see  the  w^orld. 

II.  Hearing:  A.  Deafness.  Serious  deafness  requires 
medical  attention  immediately  upon  its  discovery: 
slight  deafness  usually  also.  About  four  children  in 
one  hundred  are  "hard  of  hearing."  This  defect  is 
usually  greater  in  one  ear  than  in  the  other.  Deafness 
leads  to  inattention  and  to  indifference  to  others,  and 
limits  the  avenues  of  knowledge.  The  seriously  deaf 
are  seldom  ambitious  of  success,  and  therefore  require 
especial  encouragement.  Ear-drums  and  speaking-tubes, 
under  medical  direction,  help  obviate  some  of  the  worst 
probably  ultimate  results.  Outdoor  life,  by  improving 
the  quality  of  the  blood,  sometimes  helps  to  recovery  or 
to  betterment. 

B.  Head  noises.  These  often  occur  in  pupils  with  un- 
usually acute  hearing.  They  are  sometimes  caused  by 
growths  or  deposits  in  the  inner  ear,  more  often  by 
anaemia  or  other  01-health.  Sometimes,  they  are  the 
advance  signals  of  approaching  insanity.  Children  so 
afflicted  are  at  times  irritable  and  restless,  at  other 
times  dull  and  listless;  at  all  times,  inattentive  and  in- 
clined to  day-dreaming.  All  sounds  come  to  them  from 
the  outside  world  in  false  confusions,  mixed  with  under- 
and  overtones  mostly  discordant.  Children  of  this  kind 
are  to  be  pitied,  encouraged  and  helped. 

III.  Spinal  curvatures.  These  afflict  especially  boys 
and  girls  of  ideo-motor  and  speculative  temperaments. 
Spinal  curvatures  and  weaknesses  are  very  common 
among  city  children  whose  ancestry  has  been  from  gen- 
erations of  the  city  poor:  they  are  much  less  common 
among  rural  children  and  among  the  city  well-to-do. 

185 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

Serious  cases  are  easily  recognized.  But  slight  cases 
grow  often  into  serious  ones.  Any  spinal  curvature 
interferes  more  or  less  with  the  spinal  cord  and  its 
efferent  and  afferent  nerves  and  hence  with  the  health- 
ful life  of  the  body, — its  digestion  and  other  processes. 
We  Americans  are  the  only  people  in  human  history 
who  have  undertaken  to  sit  up  or  to  stand  up  continu- 
ously for  sixteen  hours  a  day;  hence,  spinal  curvatures 
are  rapidly  increasing  among  us.  The  spine  was  built 
for  quadrupeds:  it  is  not  properly  built  for  use  as 
eighteen-hour-a-day  bipeds:  it  is  not  anatomically  a 
vertical  tower  but  a  horizontal  bridge.  Adults  should 
lie  down  flat  for  an  hour  every  day  about  midday; 
and  children  even  more  than  adults.  Of  course,  we 
cannot  now  at  once  correct  this  entirely  unliygienic 
long-hours  liigh- pressure  day  for  our  people.  But  we 
can  as  teachers  help  somewhat  to  relieve  the  cases  of 
the  pupils  whose  spines  are  already  giving  way. 

Any  spinal  curvature  causes  weakness  and  makes  the 
person  prone  to  fatigue  and  exhaustion, — to  impatience, 
restlessness,  distress,  and  allied  supposedly  moral  de- 
ficiencies. 

IV.  Innutrition  and  malnutrition.  Innutrition  may 
arise  from  insufficiency  of  food  in  quality  or  in  quantity 
or  in  both  respects.  It  may  arise  from  weakness  of  the 
digestive  organs.  It  may  arise  from  impairment  of  the 
nervous  system.  Its  familiar  and  general  result  is 
ansemia,  which  displaj^s  itself  in  the  blood  in  that  it 
has  too  few  red  or  too  few  white  corpuscles  or  both  and 
in  the  tissues  which  become  or  are  congenitally  weak, 
pale  and  flaccid.  Even  the  bones  may  be  soft,  for  want 
of  lime;  or  brittle,  for  want  of  tissue  of  protein  or  al- 
buminous substance.     There  are  usually  other  results 

18G 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS  AND    INDIVIDUAL 

such  as  defective  special  senses,  weak  reactions,  inert- 
ness, timidity. 

Malnutrition  displays  itself  in  derangement  of  func- 
tions in  skin,  in  special  senses,  in  the  respiratory,  circu- 
latory, digestive,  excretory,  muscular,  lymphatic,  cere- 
bral and  sympathetic  nervous  systems.  The  functional 
disorders  of  the  system  that  is  suffering  from  mal- 
nutrition are  such  as  require  the  immediate  attention 
of  physicians.  Some  of  the  secondary  psychical  results 
of  malnutrition  are  irascibility,  insubordinateness,  fear, 
sullenness. 

The  ignorant  rich  or  well-to-do  are  as  liable  to  both 
innutrition  and  malnutrition  as  are  the  intelligent  poor. 

V.  Teeth  deficiencies.  A.  Caries.  Few  children  and 
youth  have  sound  teeth.  In  any  public  school  any- 
where, most  of  the  children  are  in  need  of  dentistry.  In 
many  public  schools,  ninety-five  children  in  one  hundred 
are  in  need  of  tooth  filling  or  of  tooth  extraction.  In 
some  instances  even  in  children  of  but  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age,  nearly  every  permanent  tooth  is  already 
in  a  state  of  decay.  Toothache  at  school  is  very  com- 
mon. Many  times,  disorderly  children  are  punished 
when  pain  in  their  teeth  is  the  cause  of  their  disorder. 

B.  Irregular  dentition.  Sometimes,  the  teeth  do  not 
strike  together,  and  food  cannot  be  properly  masti- 
cated. In  one  of  my  classes,  I  discovei-ed  a  child  with 
over  forty  teeth,  sixteen  of  them  very  large,  and  several 
in  the  center  of  the  upper  mouth!  This  child  had  been 
the  subject  of  frequent  rebuke  from  his  teacher  for 
mumbling  his  words  and  for  defective  articulation.  A 
glance  into  this  extraordinary  mouth  told  the  story  of 
the  cause.  Our  schools  require  dentists  even  more  than 
oculists  for  semiannual  inspection  and  advice  to  parents. 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

VI.  The  crippled.  The  disabled  and  the  maimed 
come  to  us  in  all  shapes  and  with  all  kinds  of  troubles. 
Each  is  a  special  case.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  sensitive 
and  on  the  defensive,  and  yet  they  are  usually  ambitious 
beyond  the  average  pupils.  Each  should  be  the  special 
care  of  the  class  teacher.  One  of  their  common  char- 
acteristics is  a  certain  deceitfulness  that  is  due  to  fear 
of  injustice.  Their  treatment  should  be  kind,  frank, 
just.  They  do  not  desire  obvious  pity,  though  by  no 
means  resenting  a  tender,  reticent,  deeply  concerned 
compassionateness. 

VII.  The  feeble-minded.  Of  these,  we  have  several 
grades, — 1.  Dull  or  feeble  of  intellect  or  will.  2.  Chor- 
eatic or  epileptic.  3.  Partially  deranged.  4.  Imbecile. 
5.  Idiot.  None  of  them  belongs  in  any  public  school 
unless  in  some  class  especially  arranged  for  the  feeble- 
minded. When  any  one  of  these  kinds  is  present  and 
in  the  actual  operation  of  the  school  must  be  retained, 
a  problem  of  intense  seriousness  to  the  teacher,  to  the 
classmates,  to  the  parents  of  the  case  in  question  and 
to  the  parents  of  all  the  other  pupils  is  presented.  They 
are  born  to  all  classes  of  our  people,  of  all  the  various 
nationalities  and  races  and  religions.  Those  of  the 
four  kinds, — second  to  fifth, — may  be  recognized  almost 
or  indeed  actually  on  sight  by  their  characteristic  and 
well-known  stigmata,  which  therefore  need  not  be 
enumerated  here.  Before  deciding  that  a  pupil  is  really 
dull  or  feeble-minded, — of  the  first  kind, — the  teacher 
may  make  four  simple  tests,  as  follows — viz.: 

1.  Time-rate.  Dictate  making  of  twenty  marks,  1, 1,  etc. 
A  child  of  this  kind  will  either  make  them  very,  very  slowly 
or  wrongly  before  completing  the  number. 

188 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

2.  Field  of  vision.  Make  five  clots  on  the  blackboard, 
and  erase.  Ask  the  child  to  record  them  on  blackboard  or 
on  paper  accordingly.  The  dull  or  feeble  child  never  really 
sees  five  dots. 

3.  Retentiveness.  Say  a  few  words  carefully.  Pause 
30  seconds.     Ask  the  child  to  repeat  them. 

4.  Execution  of  order.  Draw  a  rectangle  on  a  piece  of 
manila  paper;  then  cut  it  out  with  scissors.  Hand  paper, 
pencil  (or  crayon)  and  scissors  to  the  child;  and  ask  him 
to  do  the  same. 

The  boy  or  girl  who  can  perform  any  three  of  these 
tests  fairly  well  is  probably  not,  in  fact,  feeble-minded. 
He  or  she  who  fails  in  three  or  all  of  these  tests  probably 
is  feeble-minded.  In  order  to  avoid  criticism  by  the 
ignorant  public  or  by  the  interested  parents  or  by  the 
school  authorities  at  the  end  of  the  year  for  not  passing 
the  dull  or  feeble-minded  child  forward  to  the  next 
class,  it  is  expedient  to  give  one's  own  opinion  on  the 
case  as  early  after  receiving  him  or  her  as  one  forms 
that  opinion. 

VIII.  Special  deficiencies  in  functioning,  or  in  the  sev- 
eral studies.  These  occur  in  Protean  forms.  One  child 
cannot  write  evenly  and  legibly;  another  cannot  spell; 
another  is  foiled  by  arithmetic;  a  fourth  has  no  verbal 
memory;  a  fifth  is  prone  to  giggling  or  other  minor 
hysterical  or  ''nervous"  displays;  a  sixth  "hates" 
music;  a  seventh  is  so  slow  in  obeying  any  order  as  to 
seem  defiant  when  really  he  simply  cannot  react  prompt- 
ly to  orders  conveyed  through  his  auditory  tract;  an 
eighth  is  always  drawing  something  openly  or  clandes- 
tinely; a  ninth  is  tardy  because  he  has  no  adequate  sense 
of  time  or  of  space  or  of  either;  a  tenth  whispers  auto- 
matically and  is  scarcely  aware  of  this  breach  of  school 

189 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

decorum  when  committed;  an  eleventh  is  impoHte,  being 
unconscious  of  others;  a  twelfth  pilfers,  being  without 
the  property  sense.  "There  is  none  good,  no,  not  one," 
— is  almost  true  of  every  class  of  forty  students  in 
America.  Scarcely  one  in  forty  is  wholly  good.  Often 
conferences  with  parents  help.  The  only  good  boy  is 
the  one  who  knows  that  he  is  not  good  but  is  tr3dng 
to  do  better. 

For  the  fourth  theory  of  government  at  school, — and 
the  last  to  be  considered  here, — we  must  look  to  the 
modern  doctrines  of  democracy  for  jiLstification.  Ac- 
cording to  democratic  theories  and  practices  "no  per- 
son may  govern  another  without  that  person's  con- 
sent," ^  and  "all  men  are  created  equal."  ^  Democracy 
is  the  rule  of  all  by  the  majority, — as  every  one  knows. 
But  an  ancient  authority  ^  showed  of  all  governments, 
that  even  of  a  democracy,  two  facts  are  true:  First, 
the  government  is  always  operated  by  individuals;  and, 
second,  these  rulers  are  usually  the  older  men  of  the 
nation  or  community.  The  supporters  of  tliis  new 
theory  of  pupil  self-government  set  up  in  addition  the 
familiar  propositions  that  school  is  preparation  for  life 
and  that  the  true  way  of  preparation  is  trial  and  ex- 
periment. From  these  five  premises  follows  the  final 
conclusion  that  the  true  way  to  prepare  for  life  in  a 
democracy  is  to  constitute  in  the  school  a  democracy  in 
which  a  majority  of  the  pupils  (duly  organized  in  some 
form  of  representative  government)  control  all  of  them. 
In  order  not  to  transgress  the  obvious  common  sense 

*  Abraham  Lincoln,  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates:  frequently  re- 
peated by  him. 

^  Thomas  Jefferson,  Declaration  of  Independence. 
« Aristotle,  On  Politics,  Book  VIII. 

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CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

of  the  situation,  in  college,  in  high  school,  in  academy 
and  in  elementary  school  alike,  they  have  a  court  of 
appeal  whose  justices  are  the  adult  teachers. 

To  condemn  at  once  pupil  self-government  in  its 
theory  and  in  its  practice,  without  calling  before  the 
bar  some  actual  "school  cities"  and  "junior  republics" 
and  "students'  senates"  might  be  pedantic  dogmatism; 
and  to  discuss  the  theory  and  practice  adequately  in 
these  pages  would  be  to  increase  them  to  double  their 
number.  Let  me  give,  first,  my  own  opinion  after  some 
trial  and  much  observation. — Under  the  right  college 
president  or  school  principal,  with  competent  professors 
or  teachers  friendly  to  the  experiment,  in  certain  kinds 
of  neighborhoods,  the  theory  when  not  pressed  too  hard 
works  reasonably  well  alike  for  all  ages  of  students. 
Not  gainsaying  this  fact  or  desiring  to  see  these  experi- 
ments fail  and  cease,  I  would,  second,  offer  a  few  sug- 
gestions as  to  some  of  the  principles  of  ethics  essentially 
involved  in  this  matter  of  school  discipline.  The  gen- 
eral stages  of  growth  in  morality  (to  promote  which 
growth  is  the  educational  purpose  of  school  government) 
are  three — viz.: 

1.  obedience  to  persons  and  to  their  definite  orders; 

2.  obedience  to  maxims,  laws,  customs;  and 

3.  obedience  to  principles  and  to  reason. 

The  first  stage  may  be  characterized  as  that  of  "pre- 
scriptive morality";  the  second  as  that  of  "doctrinal 
morality";  and  the  third  as  that  of  "rational  con- 
duct." Hitherto,  educators  have  assumed  that  the 
age-period  of  the  first  kind  of  obedience  ends  at  the 
end  of  childhood  and  the  beginning  of  adolescence; 
that  the  second  kind  characterizes  the  entire  period  of 

191 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

adolescence;  and  that  adults  should  be  emancipated 
from  personal  authority  and  from  formal  laws  and  ''do 
their  duty"  of  desire  and  of  intelligence  and  of  their 
own  good  character.  Obviously,  pupil  self-government 
assumes  that  hiunanity  has  no  lesson  for  the  individual 
and  that  he  can  skip  from  obedience  to  parents  at  home 
to  the  third  stage,  omitting  the  half-period  of  obedience 
to  teachers  and  the  entire  period  of  obedience  to  the  set 
"rules  and  regulations"  of  the  schools.  This  may  be 
true.  If  so,  the  American  boy  is  abridging  the  experi- 
ence of  the  race,  short-circuiting  human  history;  per- 
haps, he  inherits  democracy  in  his  brain  cells  from  his 
self-governing  parents.  It  is  a  question  of  fact,  to  be 
scientifically  determined  by  systematic  trial,  experi- 
mentation, generalization,  correction  of  error,  and  veri- 
fication. If,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  American  school  and 
college  students  can  beneficially  govern  themselves  by 
electing  their  own  rulers  and  police,  an  educational  revo- 
lution is  at  hand  too  vast  and  momentous  for  farther 
discussion  here.  On  the  other  hand,  if  "school-cities," 
— and  their  similars, — ^by  the  omission  of  a  necessary 
social  indoctrination  gradually  into  the  approved  modes 
of  conduct  of  adults  mean  that  the  "letter  of  the  laws" 
shall  not  be  known  perfectly  by  a  considerable  number 
of  our  citizens,  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  such  a  welter 
of  persons  at  tangential  and  oblique  angles  of  relation 
to  one  another  as  amounts  to  chaos  and  would  inevit- 
ably end  in  the  ruin  of  society.  Here  again  we  come 
upon  two  questions  of  fact:  1.  Does  or  does  not  pupil 
self-government  mean  the  abandonment  of  social  in- 
doctrination in  common  customs  for  the  pupil  citizens? 
2.  Even  though  it  be  true,  in  a  sense,  that  the  voice  of 
the  (adult)  people  is  the  voice  of  God,  is  it  true  that  the 

192 


CONTROL   OF    THE    CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

majority  of  a  group  of  boys  or  of  youth  is,  in  any  useful 
sense  in  respect  to  their  own  government,  authoritative? 

We  may  perhaps  get  some  hght  upon  these  two  ques- 
tions by  considering  a  much  larger  question,  with  which 
indeed  any  treatment  of.  class  and  pupil  control  is  great- 
ly concerned,  Wliat  are  the  qualities  that  we  should 
desire  to  see  manifested  in  our  boys  and  girls?  Are  they 
just  the  same  qualities  as  we  require  of  adults?  Would 
a  society,  indeed,  be  endurable  by  adults  in  which  the 
boys  and  girls  were  on  an  even  plane  with  their  elders? 
Taken  literally,  are  such  phrases  as  "a  manly  boy,"  "a 
man  with  the  heart  of  a  child  (or  of  a  woman),"  "a 
motherly  girl,"  or  "a  boy  with  the  sweet  face  of  a  girl" 
to  be  taken  as  satire  or  as  praise?  Is  a  thoroughly  self- 
reliant  boy  one  who  promises  well  or  not?  Do  not,  in 
fact,  sex  and  age  modify  the  requirements?  Such  ques- 
tions are  their  own  answers.  Common  sense, — which  is 
a  large  part  of  ethics, — can  permit  no  other  answers. 

The  best  thing  that  we  can  say  of  a  little  boy  or  girl 
is  to  call  it  "an  obedient  child."  We  scarcely  expect  of 
it  either  cleanliness  or  neatness,  tidiness  or  orderliness, 
not  even  truthfulness.  Though  we  do  expect  of  all 
older  persons, — those  from  four  years  up, — decency  and 
modesty  in  that  sense,  yet  in  the  larger  sense  even 
modesty  in  men  is  seen  to  be  a  limitation  upon  their 
possible  usefulness.  We  admire  and  praise  fortitude 
and  courage  in  men,  yet  in  children  the  same  qualities 
are  seldom  better  than  obstinacy  and  daring.  We  have 
indeed  given  bravery  so  wide  a  meaning  that  it  is  a 
virtue  appropriate  to  human  beings  at  any  and  every 
age;  but  upon  consideration,  how  few  the  universal 
virtues  are !  Honor,  so  greatly  admired  in  men,  is  rep- 
rehended in  boys;  and  loyalty  requires  too  large  an  in- 

193 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

telligence  to  be  possible  to  them.  Truthfulness  is  an 
adult  quality,  previsioned  only  in  part  by  the  boy- virtue 
of  truth-telling;  but  boys  themselves  often  call  the 
truth-speakers  "  tattle- tales,"  making  nice  distinctions 
of  honor  as  to  what  may  be  told  and  what  should  be 
concealed.  We  applaud  fearless  men;  but  we  watch 
fearless  boys  lest  they  come  to  grief. 
Among  the  "school  virtues"  ^  are  these — viz.: 

1.  Silence.  2,  Punctuality.  3.  Promptness.  4,  Regu- 
larity. 5.  Neatness.  6.  Respectfulness.  7.  Politeness. 
8.  Orderliness.  9.  Tidiness.  10.  Cleanliness.  11.  Truth- 
speaking.  12.  Kindness.  13.  Earnestness.  14.  Diligence. 
15.  Attentiveness.  16.  Studiousness.  17.  Frankness. 
18.  Patience.     19.  Niceness.    20.  Sympathy. 

Of  these,  three  things  may  be  noted — viz.: 

First:  We  do  not  expect  some  of  them  in  the  con- 
duct of  boys  upon  the  playground  or  elsewhere  out-of- 
doors, — e.  g.,  silence,  neatness,  tidiness,  studiousness, 
patience,  niceness,  sympathy. 

Second:  Some  we  do  not  expect  of  girls  equally  with 
boys,  —  e.  g.,  regularity,  orderliness,  truth  -  speaking, 
studiousness,  frankness. 

Third:  Some  we  do  not  expect  of  boys  equally  with 
girls, — e.  g.,  neatness,  tidiness,  kindness,  patience,  nice- 
ness, sympathy. 

Fourth :  Of  pupils  under  thirteen  years  of  age,  we  ex- 
pect scarcely  any  qualities  as  much  as  of  those  above 
that  age. 

Fifth :  Some  are  not  desired  in  full-grown  men  except 
under  special  conditions  in  certain  occupations, — viz.: 
silence,  respectfulness,  studiousness,  niceness. 

'  See  pages  170-173,  above,  for  a  criticism  of  the  term. 
194 


CONTROL   OF   THE   CLASS   AND    INDIVIDUAL 

In  short,  we  do  not  desire  boys  to  be  "little  men"  or 
men  to  be  "big  boys";  we  do  not  desire  girls  to  be 
"little  women"  or  women  to  be  "big  girls."  What  we 
do  hope  and  pray  and  work  for  are  these  things — viz.: 

First:  That  the  child's  quahties  shall  be  the  seeds  of 
the  man's  qualities  and  of  the  woman's.  Obedience  to 
persons  is  to  grow  into  self-reliance  in  the  light  of  prin- 
ciples used  intelligently  via  the  mediate  course  of  obedi- 
ence to  fixed,  certain,  uniform  and  universal  laws  and 
customs.  By  this  dialectic  of  growth,  the  child  who 
obeys  becomes  the  man  who  commands.^ 

Second:  That  since  the  motive  of  the  school  and  of 
the  college  is  self-culture,  in  the  main  but  not  wholly  the 
personal  qualities  shall  be  developed  in  them,  leaving 
the  social  and  altruistic  qualities  to  grow  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  church  and  of  family  and  to  come  to  full  ma- 
turity in  the  adult's  world  of  affairs. 

Third:  That  not  to  anticipate  the  conditions  and  re- 
quirements of  the  future,  but  rather  to  take  the  child's 
present  conditions  and  requirements  and  himself,  to 
make  at  once  of  these  the  most  that  we  can  is  the  true 
educational  course, — "first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  last 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

Fourth:  That  the  true  aim  of  school  discipHne  is,  upon 
consideration  of  the  temperament  and  capabilities  of 
each  child,  to  develop  him  accordingly,  not  trying  the 
miracles  of  converting  one  temperament  into  another, 
or  of  making  the  slow  quick  or  the  dull  keen  but  using 
each  pupil's  capital  rationally  and  completely. 

And  yet  for  all  persons  of  whatever  age,  sex  or  race, 

*  It  was  an  old  saying  even  in  the  time  of  Aristotle, — "  For  he  who 
would  leam  to  command  well  must,  as  men  say,  first  of  all  learn  to 
obey." — Politics,  Book  VII. 

14  195 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

virtue  in  itself  consists  in  rejoicing  and  in  sorrowing,  in 
loving  and  in  hating  aright;  and  training  in  virtue 
teaches  how  to  form  judgments  aright  and  how  to 
produce  delight  in  good  dispositions  and  in  noble  actions. 
In  this  sense,  education  may  develop  virtue  and  fill 
out  the  deficiences  of  nature/ 

"And  beside  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  to  your 
faith  virtue;  and  to  virtue  knowledge;  and  to  knowl- 
edge temperance;  and  to  temperance  patience;  and  to 
patience  godliness;  and  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness; 
and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity."  ^ 

''Always  add:  always  proceed:  neither  stand  still  nor 
go  back  nor  deviate.  Be  always  displeased  at  what  thou 
art.     If  thou  sayest  '  I  have  enough,'  thou  diest."  ^ 

1  Aristotle,  On  Politics,  Books  VII- VIII. 

^Second  Epistle  of  Peter  i :  5,  6,  7.  "Virtue"  is  steadfastness; 
"temperance,"  moderation. 

^  Saint  Augustine,  Sermon,  Concerning  the  Words  of  the  Apostles. 


"The  surest  way  for  the  learner  is  not  to  advance  by 
jumps  and  large  strides;  let  that  which  he  sets  himself  to 
learn  next  be  indeed  the  next;  that  is,  as  nearly  conjoined 
with  what  he  knows  already  as  is  possible;  let  it  be  distinct 
but  not  remote  from  it ;  let  it  be  new,  and  what  he  did  not 
know  before,  that  the  understanding  may  advance ;  but  let 
it  be  as  little  at  once  as  may  be,  that  its  advances  may  be 
clear  and  sure.  All  the  ground  that  it  gets  this  way  it  will 
hold.  This  distinct,  gradual  growth  in  knowledge  carries 
its  own  light  with  it  in  every  step  of  its  progression  in  an 
easy  and  orderly  train." — Locke,  Conduct  of  the  Under- 
standing.    1685. 


CHAPTER  VII 

CLASSIFYING,    MARKING,    GRADING   AND 
PROMOTING    PUPILS 

What  numbers  properly  constitute  classes  in  the  various  schoola 
and  grades? — The  count-system  in  marking. — Four  factors  in- grad- 
ing,— age,  home  opportunities,  native  powers,  actual  attainments. — 
Conspectus  of  elementary  course  of  study. — Frequency  of  grading. — 
Retardation. — Machinery  versus  personality. — The  "trick"  of  rela- 
tive standards  versus  the  justice  of  absolute  standards  so  far  as  these 
are  humanly  possible. — Why  the  class  teachers  generally  should  de- 
cide promotions, — and  when  they  should  not  do  so. — The  precocious, 
the  normal,  the  altricious. — Psychical  ages  versus  physical. — The 
locus  of  a  study. — Overcrowded  curriculums. — Study  -  periods  at 
school. 

IN  schools  of  more  than  one  teacher,  the  classification 
of  the  pupils  is  never  a  matter  wholly  within  the  con- 
trol of  any  one  teacher  or  school  officer.  In  all  schools 
with  two  or  more  teachers,  the  classification  is  a  matter 
partly  of  the  general  organization  as  arranged  by  the 
higher  school  officers  and  partly  of  mutual  arrangement 
among  the  several  teachers.^  A  few  principles,  however 
respecting  the  matter  are  in  place  here. 

First:  It  is  fairly  agreed  that,  in  elementary  schools, 
the  first  primary  grade  and  the  eighth  (or  last)  grammar 
grade  should  have  classes  smaller  than  those  between. 

*  Chancellor,  Our  City  Schools:  Their  Direction  and  Management, 
Chapter  IV;  also.  Our  Schools:  Their  Administration  and  Super- 
vision, Chapter  VII, 

199 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

To  illustrate: — Kindergarten,  25  pupils  per  teacher;  first 
primary, 35  pupils;  second  to  seventh,  40  pupils  per  teacher; 
and  eighth  grade,  35  pupils  per  teacher.  It  is  a  common 
enough  saying  that  third  grade  is  easiest  to  teach  and  fifth 
hardest  to  govern.  But  in  respect  to  this  matter,  tempera- 
ment and  training  are  important  factors  in  the  problem  of 
adjusting  teacher  and  grade. 

Second:  It  is  universally  agreed  in  the  profession  that 
teachers  with  two  grades  in  a  room,  whether  a  half  year 
or  a  year  apart,  should  have  less  pupils  than  one  all  of 
whose  pupils  are  in  the  same  grade.  Laymen  on  boards 
of  education,  however,  usually  give  to  the  teacher  with 
mixed  grades  more  pupils  than  to  the  one-grade  teacher. 
Since  forty  are  as  many  as  any  teacher  should  ever 
have,  a  teacher  vidth  two  grades  should  not  have  over 
thirty-two.  A  teacher  with  three  grades  should  not 
have  over  twenty-four  pupils.^ 

Third:  It  is  commonly  agreed  that  mixed  classes  (of 
both  sexes)  are  easier  to  teach  than  girls'  classes  and 
that  girls'  classes  are  easier  than  boys'  classes.  It  is 
commonly  agreed  that  mixed  schools  are  rather  better 
than  schools  for  separate  sexes,  even  when  in  those 
schools  there  are  separate  classes  for  each  sex.  Some 
large  cities  have  boys'  and  girls'  high  schools,  but  the 
tendency  is  not  to  establish  such  schools.  In  the  same 
way,  except  in  the  largest  cities,  the  tendency  is  to  es- 
tablish high  schools  with  complete  curriculums  and  not 

*  The  State  of  Maryland  provides  by  law  that  a  district  school 
with  over  twenty-five  pupils  shall  employ  two  teachers;  with  over 
fifty,  three  teachers,  etc.  This  law,  like  the  tenure  of  office  and 
municipal  pension  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  the  teachers' 
salary  law  of  Indiana,  and  the  separate  school  election  laws  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  and  Rocky  Mountain  States,  should  be  inscribed  in 
red  letters  in  every  teacher's  book  of  memory. 

200 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

to  make  separate  high  schools  for  mechanic  arts,  for 
commerce,  etc. 

Fourth:  In  classifying  the  pupils  of  small  schools  with 
two  or  three  teachers,  there  is  no  fixed  rule;  but  the 
tendency  is  to  give  to  the  lower  (or  lowest)  teacher  the 
larger  (or  largest)  number  of  pupils,  and  likewise  the 
smaller  (or  smallest)  wages.  In  a  three-teacher  school, 
the  intennediate  teacher  should  usually  be  of  the  least 
experience,  receive  the  least  wages,  and  have  the  largest 
number  of  pupils;  but  the  lowest  teacher  should  have 
the  middle  amount  of  wages  and  the  smallest  number  of 
pupils,  while  the  liighest  teacher  should  have  the  great- 
est wages  and  the  middle  number  of  pupils.  To  this, 
there,  of  course,  may  be  indubitable  exceptions. 

Fifth:  All  proposed  elementary  classifications,  such  as 
placing  foreigners  in  one  school  (or  room)  and  natives 
in  another  (or  room),  or  setting  apart  some  pupils  for 
preparation  for  high  schools  and  others  for  instruction 
in  trades,  are  contrary  to  sound  Americanism.  A  wide 
variety  of  associates  is  good  for  every  child,  and  there 
is  but  one  standard  educational  regime — from  motiva- 
tion, to  intelligence,  into  efficiency  and  up  to  morality.* 

The  public  school  at  any  rate  should  be,  must  be,  and 
I  hope,  always  will  be  a  universal  school.  The  onl}'^ 
concession  to  be  made  is  to  alloy;  separate  schools  to 
negroes  in  the  South  or  wherever  they  are  numerous.^ 

Sixth:  Classification  in  liigh  schools  and  in  grammar 
schools  with  departmental  organization  should,  when- 

*  Chancellor,  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals  and  Values  in  Education, 
Chapters  XI-XIII. 

^  For  the  argument  to  abandon  the  American  common  school  (the 
German  dream  of  the  einheitschule  realized),  see  Perry's  Problems  of 
the  Elementary  School,  Chapters  I-III. 

201 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

ever  possible,  be  determined  upon  these  factors  and 
pnnc'i}jles^i'i2.; 

I.  Subjects  requiring  laboratory  or  library  work 
should  have  smaller  classes  than  such  recitation-subjects 
as  the  Latin  and  Greek  authors — e.  g.,  a  physics  class 
should  not  have  over  twenty-four  pupils,  while  a  Csesar 
class  may  well  have  forty-two.  Mediate  between  these 
extremes  are  classes  in  subjects  requiring  much  written 
work  to  be  examined  by  the  teacher — e.  g.,  English. 

II.  Teachers  whose  work  requires  much  outside  prep- 
aration in  advance  or  correction  of  papers  after  class 
should  have  both  smaller  classes  and  fewer  recitations 
per  day  than  other  teachers. 

III.  Wlien  a  teacher  has  several  classes  of  the  same 
grade  in  the  same  subject,  his  assignment  of  number  of 
recitations  and  of  pupils  per  class  may  well  be  larger 
than  that  of  teachers  with  several  different  subjects  or 
the  same  subject  in  different  grades.* 

With  the  general  classification  determined,  then,  by 
considerations  outside  of  the  teacher's  control,  there 
remain  three  other  allied  matters  partly  within  his  or 
her  control,  and  mainl}^  to  be  operated  by  him.  Of 
these,  the  first  concerns  the  marking  of  pupils  in  respect 
to  their  conduct  and  to  their  proficiency  in  their  studies. 
In  cities,  the  class  teachers  mark  in  accordance  with  the 
directions  of  the  liigher  authorities.     Even  so,  however, 

*  One  high  school  with  ISO  pupils  had  14  teachers;  another  but 
forty  miles  away  had  375  pupils  with  12  teachers.  But  the  former 
had  poor  ventilation  and  the  latter  excellent  ventilation.  In  a  gen- 
eral way,  the  teacher  who  commands  the  higher  salary  can  and 
should  do  and  usually  wishes  to  do  the  harder  work, — either  more 
work  with  more  pupils  or  more  difficult  work  with  more  advanced 
pupils.  The  average  salary  paid  in  the  former  scliool,  however,  was 
actually  higher  than  in  the  latter,  showing  a  wiser  community. 

202 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

the  personal  equation  of  the  teacher  enters  into  mark- 
ing. In  villages,  the  kind  of  system  used  in  marking  is 
usually  within  the  control  of  the  teachers. 

Wliere  class  teachers  do  control  this  matter,  or  are 
influential  in  it,  the  following  principles  are  likely  to  be 
accepted  as  reasonable  and  useful.  Marking  at  all  is, 
at  least  in  part,  "a  necessary  evil."  Praise  or  censure 
of  any  individual  by  any  other  individual  is  a  disagree- 
able matter.  "Judge  not"  is  a  principle  by  no  means 
alien  from  our  better  human  nature.  But  teachers, 
however,  are  set  as  judges  and  dividers  among  children 
and  youth;  and  from  some  marking,  it  is  impossible  to 
escape. 

1.  It  is  desirable,  therefore,  to  postpone  marking  as 
late  in  school  life  as  public  opinion  will  permit.  To 
mark  kindergarten  or  first  or  second  grade  children  is 
scarcely  ever  required  by  the  parental  opinion  or  by 
the  professional  opinion  of  a  community.  In  some 
places,  pupils  are  not  marked  until  the  fifth  grade. 

2.  Both  daily  work  and  tests  and  examinations  should 
be  marked  when  any  mark  at  all  is  given.  Marking 
daily  work,  however,  does  not  mean  marking  every  day. 
It  means  crediting  the  pupils'  daily  lessons  in  the  term 
mark.  The  usual  custom  is  to  count  daily  work  half. 
It  should  not  be  counted  less  than  that  in  any  grade 
of  elementary  or  high  schools.  Two  -  thirds  is  a 
fair  proportion  for  intermediate  grades ;  and  three- 
fourths  for  higher  primary  grades,  when  any  mark  is 
given. 

3.  When  any  subject  is  marked,  all  others  should  be, 
lest  the  pupils  neglect  the  subjects  not  considered  by  the 
teacher  important  enough  to  be  marked. 

4.  Averaging   all   subjects   should   not   be   required; 

203 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 


but  when  required,  the  logical  studies  should  be  counted 
higher  than  the  others. 

To  illustrate: — 


Subjects 

Marks 

Co  TINTS 

Solution 

Grade  VIII 

Arithmetic 

7 

5 

7x5  =  35 

PUPIL'S  NAME  Grammar 

5 

5 

5X5  =  25 

George  J.  Field 

Composition 

6 

2 

6x2  =  12 

Physiology 

9 

1 

9x1  =    9 

Writing 

9 

1 

9x1  =   9 

Manual  Work 

6 

4 

6x4  =  24 

History 

7 

3 

7x3  =  21 

Deportment 

Geography 

9 

3 

9x3  =  27 

B 

Music 

9 

1 

9x1=    9 

Drawing 

9 

2 

9x2  =  18 

Spelling 

8 

2 

8x2  =  16 

Current  Events 

9 

1 

9x1  =    9 

1 

2  [93 
7.9 

30 

30|214 
7.0 

General  Average 

7.0 

In  this  instance,  were  all  studies  counted  equally,  the 
average  would  be  not  7.0  but  7.9/ 

5.  The  question  of  marking  is  part  and  parcel  of  the 
question  of  how  often  to  send  reports  to  parents.  In 
cities  with  large  foreign  populations  of  ignorant  parents, 
reports  are  often  worse  than  useless, — often  quite  as 
much  "bones  of  contention"  as  in  some  American- 
descended  "old  families."  It  is  fairly  agreed  among 
educators  that  reports  should  be  sent  as  infrequently  as 
parental  opinion  will  permit,  certainly  not  more  often 
than  six  times  a  year. 

'  The  question  of  marking  is  discussed  at  length  from  the  viewpoint 
of  the  Superintendent  in  Chancellor's  Our  City  Schools:  Their  Direc- 
tion and  Management,  pp.  153-160. 

204 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

6.  In  setting  down  marks  at  the  beginning  of  a  year, 
it  is  wise  to  mark  low, — to  give  the  benefit  of  any  doubt 
to  the  teacher.  At  the  end  of  the  grade  or  year,  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt  belongs  to  the  child.  And  children 
like  to  feel  that  they  are  going  up-hill. 

The  question  of  marking  is  not  the  same  as  those  of 
grading,  of  promoting  and  of  the  report  sent  home, — 
common  professional  practice  and  parental  opinion  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

7.  Whether  to  mark  in  words  or  in  letters,  in  per 
cents,  or  on  the  scale  of  10  or  in  figures  (such  as  1,  2,  3, 
4)  has  long  been  a  moot  question.  After  trying  various 
plans  in  several  towns  and  cities,  I  have  come  to  the 
practice  of  marking  on  the  scale  of  10  and  now  discour- 
age all  my  teachers  from  giving  decimals  except  in  the 
average.  One  advantage  over  words,  over  arbitrary 
figures  and  over  letters  is  that  decimals  permit  easy 
shifting  of  the  "  passing  mark."  An  advantage  over  per 
cent,  marks  is  that  decimal  marking  does  not  attempt 
fine,  impossibly  fine,  distinctions.  Among  the  obj  ections 
to  "scale  of  10  marking"  is  that  ''parents  understand 
words  better";  wliich  I  do  not  believe  to  be  the  fact. 
Another  objection  is  that  it  tells  the  parents  about  their 
children  too  definitely.  But  why  give  them  vague  in- 
formation? Let  us  tell  the  facts,  or  say  nothing  at  all. 
A  thu'd  objection  is  that  ignorant  parents  cannot  inter- 
pret the  scale  figures.  Tliis  is  true.  They  err  equally  as 
to  words  and  arbitrary  letters;  it  is  the  first  objection 
in  another  form.  Such  words  as  ''satisfactory,"  "fair," 
and  "excellent"  give  them  much  trouble. 

The  grading  of  pupils  should  be  with  reference  in 
part  to  each  of  four  factors, — their  ages,  their  home 
opportunities,  their  powers  and  their  actual  attainments. 

205 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


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CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

This  is  a  hard  doctrine.  It  means  that  three  several 
customary  practices  of  our  schools  should  be  given  up. 
It  is  unfortunately  true  that  they  are  not  likely  soon  to 
be  given  up  everywhere;  but  until  they  are  given  up, 
we  shall  not  have  bona  fide  education. 

First:  It  is  unfortunately  true  that  in  many  cities 
there  is  insufficient  housing  accommodation  for  all  the 
pupils.  In  such  a  condition,  they  drop  out  of  school 
as  soon  as  the  law  allows.     Many  do  this,  anyway;  but 


100 
90 

80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 
10 
0. 


THE      PRECIPICE 
4     5     6     7    6     9    10    U    a   13    14    15    16    17    iSYtARS 


school-congestion  accelerates  the  process.  In  most 
States,  the  compulsory  education  term,  fourteen  years,  is 
a  precipice  that  may  be  accurately  set  forth  in  this  dia- 
gram prepared  from  the  records  of  over  2,000,000  pupils.^ 

^  But  for  the  facts  that  in  some  States,  the  term  is  twelve  years  of 
age,  and  in  others  thirteen,  and  that  the  laws  are  not  everywhere 
enforced,  the  precipice  would  be  even  higher. 

^  In  this  connection,  it  is  highly  important  to  note,  first,  that  when 
the  grades  that  enroll  pupils  above  fourteen  years  of  age  have  abun- 

207 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

In  consequence  of  this  disappearance,  month  by 
month,  of  pupils  as  they  reach  fourteen  years  of  age, 
it  is  a  common  practice  to  pack  the  higher  grades  with 
pupils  not  prepared  for  their  studies.  One  cause  is  that 
the  school  officers  do  not  like  to  admit,  either  to  them- 
selves or  to  the  public,  that  so  few  pupils  stay  at  school 
to  finish  even  the  grammar  grades.  Sometimes,  I  won- 
der how  many  pupils,  upon  an  honest  grading  with  a 
course  of  study  intelligently  prepared,  would  actually 
reach  the  grade  next  below  high  school,  for  I  know  that 
many  are  "pushed  up."  Another  cause  is  that  room 
can  be  made  in  lower  grades  for  new  pupils  by  taking  a 
series  of  groups, — now  three,  now  ten  pupils, — room  by 
room,  at  almost  any  time  in  the  year  and  "sending 
them  on."  This  affects,  often  injuriously,  the  grading 
of  nearly  every  class  in  the  school.^ 

So  classifying  the  pupils  as  to  put  really  mixed  classes 
into  every  room  may  be  necessary,  but  then  labelling 
them  as  uniform  standard  grades  is  objectionable  on 
these  several  grounds.  First,  it  worries  the  teachers. 
To  be  specific:  The  teacher  who  has  thirty  seventh- 
grade  pupils  and  then  is  assigned  ten  more  pupils  who 
are  really  sixth  grade  in  quality  worries  because  she  knows 
that  she  will  be  adjudged  by  the  public,  and  fears  that 

dance  of  "manual  training,"  the  number  that' fall  over  the  precipice 
is  much  smaller  than  elsewhere;  and,  second,  that  school  systems  with 
ample  kindergarten  accommodations  both  have  far  less  pupils 
retarded  in  grades  1  and  2  and  lose  less  pupils  at  the  precipice  than 
school  systems  without  ample  kindergartens.  When  he  had  seen 
this  hope  of  liis  young  manhood  as  Superintendent  of  Schools  of 
St.  Louis  realized  on  a  great  scale.  Doctor  W.  T.  Harris  expressed 
the  greatest  happiness,  for  he  had  reached  the  vision  of  the  true 
function  of  the  kindergarten, — the  awakening  of  self-activity. 

'  This  is  not  to  be  taken  as  an  objection  to  frequent  regrading  of 
classes,  for  the  discussion  of  wliich  see  pages  199-202. 

208 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

she  will  be  adjudged  by  the  school  authorities,  a  failure  if 
the  ten  do  not  reach  eighth  grade  along  with  the  thirty. 
The  second  practice  of  our  schools  that  must  be 
abandoned  in  order  that  we  may  accept  the  principle 
that  age,  home  opportunity,  power  and  attainment 
should  all  be  considered  in  grading  is  that  of  taking 
but  one  of  these  into  account — viz.,  attaimnents.  To  this 
practice,  there  are  two  objections,  one  of  reason,  the 
other  of  expediency.  As  a  matter  of  reason,  of  the 
attainments  of  a  pupil, — that  is  but  one  term  for  in- 
dicating his  actual  proficiency  in  the  subjects  of  the 
course  of  study,  and  several  others  are  equally  good, — 
grading  is  seriously  concerned  with  but  one  group — viz., 
his  attainments  in  the  logical  studies.  How  far  a  pupil 
may  have  gone  in  history  or  geography,  in  music  or 
drawing  or  manual  training,  is  of  but  little  concern: 
what  he  knows  of  number  and  arithmetic  and  of  read- 
ing and  grammar  is,  however,  of  vital  importance.  If 
attainments  alone  are  to  be  considered  in  grading,  then 
the  field  considered  is  still  too  large,  for  only  English 
and  mathematics  really  matter.  A  pupil  may  skip 
Asia  and  yet  learn  Europe  in  geography  or  the  colonial 
period  in  American  history  and  still  learn  the  national 
period;  but  he  cannot  learn  interest  until  he  knows 
fractions  or  skip  the  parts  of  speech  and  yet  learn  the 
grammar  of  sentences.  The  order  in  the  informational 
studies  is  a  matter  of  convenience;  that  in  the  logical 
studies  is  one  of  necessity.^ 

1  Wlien  attainments  and  proficiency  in  other  subjects  must  be 
considered,  their  rank  in  importance  in  determining  the  power  to 
go  forward  is — highest,  the  logical  studies;  next  lower,  the  psycho- 
logical exercises;  still  lower  the  physiological  exercises;  and  lowest, 
the  informational  studies,  whose  key  is  "interest"  and  whose  refrain 
is  "tell  us  something  new  and  delightful." 

209 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

The  other  objection  to  considering  attainments  alone 
in  promotion  is  one  of  expediency  in  that  in  most  in- 
stances one  or  another  of  the  following  situations  is 
likely  to  develop — viz.: 

First:  There  is  apt  to  be  an  excessive  retardation  of 
certain  groups  of  children  in  the  lower  grades  so  that 
an  absurd  and  even  dangerous  situation  arises  as  to 
age.  Cliildren  of  twelve,  tliirteen,  even  fourteen  years 
of  age  are  allowed  to  hang  fire  in  the  lowest  grades,  even 
the  first.  \In  such  grades,  they  are  phj^sically  and 
morally  and  socially  out  of  place,  whatever  be  the  facts 
in  respect  to  their  intellectual  proficiency.  This  is  so 
absurd  that  laymen  on  boards  of  education  often  pre- 
scribe, as  a  matter  of  common  sense,  a  rule  that  upon 
the  second  endeavor  to  do  the  work  of  a  grade  the  pupil 
shall  be  promoted,  whether  or  not  he  has  attained  a 
satisfactory  standard.  The  demoralizing  effect  of  such 
a  rule  upon  other  and  younger  boys  of  an  indolent 
temperament  is  ob^dous.  The  rule  simply  crystallizes 
the  impression  they  get  from  the  mere  presence  among 
them  of  those  Avho  cannot  do  the  work. 

Second:  There  arise  cases  where  pupils  whose  parents 
can  and  do  help  their  children,  in  one  or  other  of  many- 
ways,  see  them  held  back  for  want  of  technically  satis- 
factory proficiency  w'hen  the  parents  know  that  the 
actual  understanding  of  the  world  and  life  of  their  chil- 
dren is  sufficient  to  w^arrant  advancement.  Of  course, 
to  say  that  home  opportunities  should  be  considered  in 
grading  pupils  raises  at  once  the  questions  of  "class- 
discrimination"  and  "personal  favoritism."  But  the 
answer  is  simple  and  sufficient. — ^Teachers  do  not  create 
these  differences,  and  our  business  is  to  operate  with 
the  facts.    A  slow  or  dull  or  careless  boy  whose  parents 

210 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

can  and  will  help  him,  or  a  frail  girl  not  quite  up  to  the 
mark  but  similarly  helped  at  home  may,  and  probably 
will,  benefit  by  promotion  where  other  children  of  the 
same  qualities  but  without  the  same  help  would  only 
suffer  thereby.  What  we  are  to  work  for  is  the  good  of 
the  child,  not  the  maintenance  of  a  mathematically 
ideal  system,, 

Third:  The  facts  of  varieties  of  powers  not  in  exact 
correspondence  with  demonstrated  attainments  are  too 
obvious  to  warrant  delay  on  this  point.  To  be  specific : — 
A  boy  with  "marks"  of  but  60  or  65  per  cent,  may 
nevertheless  be  in  fact  better  fitted  to  advance  into  a 
higher  grade  than  Ms  companion  whose  marks  average 
80  per  cent.  The  qualities  that  indicate  the  wisdom  of 
advancing  a  pupil  without  the  required  marks  are  ihese — 
viz.:  1.  Eagerness  to  learn.  2.  Persistence  of  en- 
deavor. 3.  Wide  general  inforaiation.  4.  Notable  pro- 
ficiency in  some  lines,  though  there  are  deficiencies  else- 
where,— in  short,  concentration,  with  materials  on  hand 
to  be  concentrated. 

The  third  practice  of  our  schools  that  must  be  aban- 
doned in  order  to  clear  the  way  for  a  more  rational  and 
equitable  procedure  in  respect  to  the  grading  of  pupils 
is  the  substitution  of  machinery  by  personality  in  edu- 
cation. Machinery  takes  strange  forms,  some  of  them 
finer  than  spider's  web.  It  is  not  merely  a  safe  rule  to 
use  as  little  machinery  as  possible  in  education  but  one 
rather  of  the  utmost  importance  as  being  essential  to 
all  true  education,  which  is  essentially  such  a  relation  of 
persons  as  results  in  the  benefiting  of  inferior  by  the 
superior  through  the  transmission  of  knowledge.  In  the 
actual  practice  of  our  schools,  there  is  sometimes  such 
a  taking  of  refuge  behind  rules  as  may  fairly  be  char- 

15  211 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

acterized  as  the  cowardice  of  the  incompetent.  In  re- 
spect to  the  matter  in  hand,  it  is  so  much  easier  (for  some 
natures)  to  say, — "But,  Mrs.  So-and-So,  you  see  that 
your  son's  marks  in  arithmetic  and  geography  are  so 
much  below  the  passing  mark  that  it  would  be  contrary 
to  the  rules  to  promote  him,"  than  to  enter  upon  a  plain 
and  comprehensible  statement  of  the  real  facts  about 
the  boy  that  constitute  the  causes  for  his  getting  the 
low  marks.  Sometimes,  in  his  heart  (or  hers),  the 
teacher  knows  that,  despite  the  marks,  one  boy  who 
has  passed  should  repeat  and  that  another  who  is  to 
repeat  should  be  allowed  to  advance.  The  one  boy. 
may  really  be,  either  physically  or  mentally,  too  young 
to  be  ready  for  the  higher  work.  This  is  espe- 
cially apt  to  be  true  in  cities-  with  schools  of  high 
standards.  The  other  boy  may  be  so  old  that  he 
really  requires  the  stimulus  of  the  companionship  of 
boys  certainly  not  younger  than  those  with  whom 
he  has,  on  technical  marks,  "failed  to  make  the 
grade." 

Upon  the  ultimate  analysis,  we  are  really  marking 
our  pupils  in  most  of  the  subjects  by  personal  opinions 
rather  than  with  machine-exactness.  Even  in  mathe- 
matics, the  opinions  of  teachers  are  often  at  variance. 
One  teacher  marks  a  problem  as  wrong  when  the  answer 
is  not  correct.  Another  gives  partial  credit  when  the 
principles  employed  are  correct  but  there  is  a  sHghtly 
incorrect  answer.  A  third  ignores  the  answer  and  marks 
the  problem  right  when  the  principles  involved  are 
understood,  though  the  answer  is  seriously  in  error.  A 
fourth  goes  through  the  problem  and  marks  it  in  de- 
tail,— a  right  process  and  operation  gets  its  full  relative 
credit,    though    what    goes    before    and    after    is    all 

212 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

wrong.  Given  forty  pupils,  no  two  teachers  could  inde- 
pendently grade  them  all  exactly  the  same.  We  are, 
therefore,  back  upon  personal  elements  however  we 
may  seek  to  avoid  them. 

Grading  and  promotions  are  related  in  theory  as 
cause  and  effect,  though  for  the  reasons  cited  above, 
often  despite  failure  to  win  promotion,  a  pupil  is  lifted 
forward,  sometimes  when  neither  he  nor  his  parents, 
neither  his  teacher  nor  his  schoolmates  approve  of  the 
advancement. 

Various  ideas  to  govern  promotion  are  urged.  Let 
us  consider,  first,  the  least  meritorious. 

It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  find  that  there  prevails 
in  a  school  system  or  in  a  neighborhood  an  ''under- 
standing" that  ''good  teachers  never  pass  all  of  a  class 
or  'keep  back'  many."  When  this  vague  understand- 
ing is  reduced  to  definite  terms,  it  means  that  every 
teacher  must  pass  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  class  but 
must  not  fail  to  "keep  back"  at  least  one  pupil,  other- 
wise, she  either  is  "a  poor  teacher"  whose  children  "fail 
to  make  progress"  or  a  weak  teacher  without  "a  proper 
standard." 

This  idea  is  on  a  par  with  that  which,  in  respect  to 
discipline,  asserts, — "A  good  teacher  always  reports  to 
the  higher  authorities  a  few  pupils  each  year  for  mis- 
conduct but  never  reports  many." 

The  notion  that,  of  any  class,  it  may  be  said  dog- 
matically that  "some  must  fail"  conveys  plainly  enough 
to  those  who  understand  such  matters  the  fact  that  to 
those  who  hold  it  grading  is  a  matter  relative  not  to 
the  subjects  of  the  curriculum  but  to  the  "poorest 
scholar"  in  the  class.  Let  us  see,  in  a  specific  instance, 
how  this  works. 

213 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

f  A — Five  are  excellent  (say)  9  or  over 
B — Twelve  are  good  (say)  8  or  over 
C — Fourteen  are  fair  (say)  7  or  over 
Class  of  forty  pupils  ]  Z)— Five  are  passable  (say)  6  or  over 
E — Two  are  poor  (say)  4  or  over 
F — One  is  very  poor  (say)  2  or  over 
.  G — One  is  almost  worthless  (say)  0  •^ 

One  teacher  satisfies  his  "professional  conscience"  by 
holding  back  group  G;  another  has  a  professional  con- 
science demanding  that  groups  G,  F,  E  all  must  repeat. 
Perhaps  there  is  now  cited  the  rule  of  the  system  or 
of  the  neighborhood  that  "7  is  the  passing  mark." 
What  happens?  These  teachers  discover  a  way  to 
''mark  up"  all  the  delinquents  except  (say)  groups  G 
and  F;  or  perhaps  they  "hold  back"  only  G.  On  their 
theory  and  practice,  they  cannot  "keep  back"  groups 
D,  E,  F,  G,  for  they  contain  9  pupils,  nearly  one-fourth 
of  the  class,  whereas  "nine-tenths  must  go  forward  and 
not  over  one-tenth  (in  this  case  4  pupOs)  can  properly 
be  deprived  of  promotion." 

A  second  idea,  which  prevails  in  some  regions,  declares 
that  the  marks  and  opinions  of  the  teachers  should  be 
either  ignored  or  but  slightly  regarded  and  that  "the. 
higher  school  authorities  should  make  the  tests  im- 
partially." In  considerable  travels  and  a  fairly  long 
experience  of  life,  I  have  yet  to  see  ohe  human  being 
judge  another  impartially.  In  such  a  situation,  I  pre- 
fer enthusiastically  to  be  in  favor  of  all  those  men  and 
women  who  judge  other  human  beings  sympathetically. 
In  consequence,  it  seems  to  me  highly  approvable  to 
give  the  benefit  of  any  reasonable  doubt  invariably  to 
the  student  in  all  academic  performances  from  kinder- 
garten to  the  college  degree  and  therefore  invariably  to 

214 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

give  the  benefit  of  any  reasonable  doubt  to  the  general 
public  in  respect  to  all  professional  certificates,  licenses, 
and  diplomas.  In  other  words,  where  on  a  considerable 
scale  human  life  and  property,  human  culture  and  ethics 
are  not  at  stake,  let  us  favor  the  student;  but  where 
they  are  at  stake,  as  in  the  cases  of  the  physician's 
diploma,  of  the  lawyer's  certificate  of  admission  to  the 
bar,  of  the  teacher's  license,  and  of  the  minister's  or- 
dination documents,  let  us  favor  those  who  otherwise 
might  be  the  victims  of  dullards,  of  quacks,  of  the  un- 
certain, and  of  the  depraved. 

This  second  idea, — that  it  is  best  to  let  those  who  do 
not  know  the  pupils  determine  their  school-standings 
by  rigid  official  tests, — has  two  proper  uses.  These  are 
in  the  cases  of  "reasonable  doubt"  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  and  in  the  cases  of  appeal  by  parents  or 
guardians  who  feel  that  the  teachers'  opinions  are  in 
error.  In  all  these  cases,  upon  full  hearings  of  all  con- 
cerned, let  the  standings  be  determined  by  the  high- 
er authorities  when  these  are  professional  educators. 
Otherwise,  the  teacher  himself  should  be  the  final 
judge. 

A  tliird  idea  prevails  in  some  sections,  which  is  that  all 
systems  of  promotion,  of  grading,  and  of  marking  should 
be  made  as  flexible, — that  is,  as  hiunan, — as  possible; 
and  that  all  doubtful  cases  and  all  cases  of  "holding 
back"  should  be  made  "special  orders"  to  be  con- 
sidered by  their  teachers,  by  the  next  higher  teachers, 
by  the  school  authorities,  and  by  the  parents,  in  as  close 
conference  as  is  feasible,  to  the  end  that  the  best  thing 
shall  be  done  for  the  child  or  youth. 

It  is  a  bad  thing  for  a  boy  or  girl  to  be  pushed 
forward  beyond  his  mental  powers  or  physical  strength. 

215 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

It  is  a  grave  offence  to  keep  a  youth  or  cliild  at  work 
less  difficult  than  he  can  do. 

It  is  a  misfortune  to  be  retarded  at  any  stage  in 
school;  and  it  is  also  a  misfortune  to  be  graduated  at  a 
precocious  age  from  the  high  school. 

Not  a  pair  of  Scylla  and  Charybdis  but  several  pairs 
threaten  the  passage  of  a  boy  through  the  strait  of 
school  life. 

A  flexible  system  of  promotion  involves  different 
features  in  the  several  kinds  of  schools, — such  as  high 
and  elementary  schools;  such  as  large  city,  union  town, 
small  city,  graded  rural,  and  district  schools.  No  rules 
can  be  made  to  fit  each  case,  other  than  the  rule  to  try 
to  be  reasonable  and  sympathetic  in  all  cases.  Yet  a 
few  suggestions  may  be  made. 

1.  When  possible,  the  school  year  should  be  divided 
at  least  once  so  that  promotions  may  be  made  at  least 
semiannually.  In  very  large  city  schools,  promotions 
can  be  made  three  and  even  four  times  a  year.  It  is, 
however,  nowhere  desirable  to  assign  a  teacher  less  than 
a  half  year's  work, — that  is,  to  have  more  than  two 
"grades"  to  a  year.  There  may  be  cases,  indeed,  where 
large  schools  should  have  their  teachers  stay  two  years 
with  a  class,  covering  four  half-year  "grades"  with 
each  set  of  pupils.  This,  of  course,  is- a  common  prac- 
tice in  small  schools  where  the  employing  representatives 
of  the  people  have  the  good  judgment  to  keep  good 
teachers  year  after  year  for  many  years,  meeting 
offers  of  higher  salaries  to  go  elsewhere  by  raising 
the  salaries  after  .success  has  been  clearly  demon- 
strated. 

2.  Each  grade  teacher  should  be  encouraged  to  learn 
by  personal  observation  both  the  work  of  the  grades 

216 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

above  and  below  his  or  her  own  grade  and  also  the  pro- 
ficiency of  the  pupils  in  the  next  lower  grade  in  order 
that  he  may  be  a  competent  adviser  in  these  questions 
of  grading  and  promotion  in  doubtful  cases.  We  need 
to  rid  ourselves  of  the  notion  that  any  class-room  or 
"school"  ^  is  any  one's  private  domain  whose  possessor 
may  exclude  all  others;  and  we  need  to  get  the  notions 
that  to  have  visitors  and  counsellors  is  a  privilege 
and  that  to  welcome  them  is  both  a  duty  and  an 
honor.  With  right-minded  teachers  and  with  nearly 
all  pupils,  these  occasional  inquiries  with  brief  visitings 
tend  to  create  incidentally  a  highly  desirable  school 
spirit.  The  publicity  of  the  school  began  with  the 
English  Channel  and  Magna  Carta. 

3.  Whatever  be  the  size  of  the  school,  from  each  class 
there  should  be  both  promotions  and  demotions  at  al- 
most any  time  ^  when  the  teachers  concerned  tliink  that 
the  changes  would  benefit  the  pupils.  No  doubt,  de- 
motions should  be  rare,  for  they  usually  indicate  errors 
in  promotion;  but  when  rationally  justified,  upon  con- 
sultation with  the  parents,  they  should  be  enforced. 
This  is  not  to  advocate  meddling  regradings  at  any  and 
all  times,  but  it  is  to  advocate  constant  attention  to 
the  proficiency  of  the  pupils.  Obviously,  such  pro- 
motions and  rare  demotions  as  are  here  proposed 
will  occur  more  frequently  in  the  lower  primary  grades 

^  For  an  3xplanation  as  to  the  historical  cause  whence  arose  in  the 
South  generally  and  in  several  other  regions  the  calling  of  each  class 
a  "school"  and  the  absence  of  any  name  for  the  collection  of 
classes,  which  in  the  North  generally  is  called  the  school,  see  Our 
City  Schools:  Their  Direction  and  Management,  pages  37-42. 

^  There  should  be  no  promotions  or  demotions  toward  the  end  of 
a  term ;  nor  when  additions  of  pupils  to  another  room  would  seriously 
incommode  the  teacher  there. 

217 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

than  elsewhere.  By  the  time  a  boy  or  a  girl  has 
reached  sixth  grade,  his  psychical  rate,  power,  reten- 
tiveness,  persistence,  and  other  qualities  will  have  been 
fairly  measured.  In  all  probability,  he  is  where  he  be- 
longs. 

Even  so,  however,  in  any  grade  during  the  adolescent 
period,  there  may  be  cases  of  sudden  changes  in  powers 
that  require  adjustment  to  easier  or  harder  school- 
duties.  Sometimes,  it  is  possible  to  arrange  within  the 
same  grade  to  give  the  child  or  youth  either  more  work 
of  the  same  character  or  slightly  harder  work  without 
promoting  him,  when  such  a  course  of  action  seems  to 
be  desirable,  or  less  work  or  slightly  easier,  under  the 
opposite  circumstances,  rather  than  demoting  him.  Pro- 
motions tend  to  elate  the  pupils;  sometimes,  when  the 
encouragement  is  undue  or  when  the  pupil  is  by  tem- 
perament and  disposition  overambitious  or  not  well- 
poised,  their  ultimate  effect  upon  health  or  character  is 
unfortunate.  Demotions  tend  to  depress  the  pupils; 
they  should  never  take  place  save  under  such  circum- 
stances as  the  following — viz.:  1.  When  the  pupil  is 
lazy,  deficient,  and  indifferent  and  his  sufferance  in  the 
class  has  the  bad  influence  of  seeming  to  indicate  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  a  low  standard  of  requirement. 
2.  When  the  health  of  the  pupil  suffers  from  overstrain 
at  tasks  beyond  his  powers. 

In  respect  to  all  these  matters  of  classifying,  grading, 
and  promoting,  two  other  general  considerations  are 
pertinent, — relative  ages  of  pupils  and  the  organization 
of  the  course  of  study. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  age  is  not 
to  be  told  wholly  by  count  of  years.  Some  boys  are 
older  at  ten  years  of  age  than  others  are  at  fourteen. 

218 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

Age  is  a  matter  of  sex, — girls  of  the  same  race,  tempera- 
ment and  health  are  always  older  year  for  year  of  life 
than  boys  of  the  same  race,  temperament  and  health. 
Age  is  also  a  matter  of  race.  Year  for  year,  boys  of  the 
same  temperament  and  health  are  always  older  among 
the  Slavic  peoples  than  among  the  Latin,  and  older 
among  the  Latin  peoples  than  among  the  Celtic,  and 
again  older  among  the  Celtic  peoples  than  among  the 
Teutonic.  Year  for  year,  boys  of  the  same  race  and 
health  are  always  older  when  of  the  speculative,  re- 
flective, anxious  temperament  than  when  of  the  motor 
temperaments.  The  ideo-motor  are  older  in  mind  than 
the  muscular  motor;  and  these  than  the  vital  corpulent, 
who  are  youngest  of  all.  As  for  health,  there  is  no  gen- 
eral rule.  Some  forms  of  ill-health  tend  to  keep  the 
mind  undeveloped  and  childish,  other  forms  tend  to 
induce  undue  maturity. 

In  respect  to  age,  we  may  classify  our  pupils  relatively 
as  follows — viz.: 

L  The  precocious, 

2.  The  normal. 

3.  The  altricious. 

By  race,  relativeb,',  in  respect  to  age  our  pupils  may 
be  classed  in  these  ;  roups — viz. : 

1.  Latins  and  Slavs. 

2.  Celts. 

3.  Teutons  (including  nearly  all  the  English  in  America). 

The  correspondences  in  respect  to  ages  are  as  follows — 
viz.: 

219 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

Slavs  4  years=Latins  5  years=Celts  6  years=Teutons  7  years 
Slavs  11  years=Latins  12  years=Celts  13  years=Teutons  14  years 
Slavs  18  years=r Latins  20  years=Celts  22  years=Teutons  25  years 

In  giving  these  figures,  I  speak  from  personal  informa- 
tion from  experiences  such  as  these — viz.: 


1.  Direction  of  evening  schools  with  adult  foreigners  as 
well  as  "Americans"  from  over  fifty  different  "national- 
ities." In  our  Eastern  cities,  we  have  learned  that  neither 
term  conveys  much  information.  To  illustrate:  In  one 
primary  class  under  my  supervision,  twenty-three  different 
"nationalities"  were  represented. 

2.  Investigation  of  the  cases  of  many  thousands  of  "Afro- 
Americans,"  from  which  I  have  learned  that  it  is  useless  to 
try  to  estimate  the  American  "  negro."  He  may  be  half- 
Portuguese  (Latin) ;  or  sixty  -  three  sixty-fourths  Anglo- 
Saxon.  He  is  the  most  inclusive  mestizo  the  world  has  ever 
known;  in  about  one  case  in  sixteen,  he  is  a  pure-blooded 
negro.  Even  so,  he  may  come  from  any  one  of  a  dozen 
different  races  and  tribes.  Most  negroes  and  mulattoes  are 
precocious.  Ladinos  with  much  Indian  blood  are  altricious. 
Quadroons  and  octoroons  are  normal,  though  quicker  to  de- 
velop than  Americans  of  English  descent. 

By  temperament,  in  respect  to  age,  pupils  may  be 
classified  as  follows — viz.: 

1.  The  reflective  (with  triangular  faces) :  precocious. 

2.  The  nervous  motor  (with  rectangular  faces)  |    „  ^  i 

3.  The  muscular  motor  (with  square  faces)      > 

4.  The  vital  corpulent  (with  round  faces) :   altricious. 

The  correspondences  are  as  follows — viz.: 

220 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADI  NG,  PROMOTING 

Reflective  4  years  old  =  nervous  motor  5  years  =  muscular  motor 

6  years  =  vital  corpulent  7  years. 
Reflective  11  years  old  =  nervous  motor  12  years  =  muscular  motor 

13  years  =  vital  corpulent  14  years. 
Reflective  18  years  old  =  nervous  motor  20  years  =  muscular  motor 

22  years  =  vital  corpulent  25  years. 

This  is  not  a  matter  known  only  to  the  educational 
or  psychological  student;  all  observers  of  human  nature 
are  familiar  with  it.  Every  class-room  in  America,  every 
assemblage  of  persons,  all  experiences  of  those  who  have 
lived  long  enough  to  see  the  life-histories  of  themselves 
and  of  others  confirm  the  opinion  that  equality  of  years 
does  not  mean  equality  of  mental  age,  or  of  physical, 
either. 

By  sex,  in  respect  to  age,  we  differ  as  follows — viz.: 

Women  4  years  old  =  men  5  years 
Women  12  years  old  =  men  14  years 
Women  18  years  old  =  men  22  years 
Women  45  years  old  =  men  56  years 

In  the  light  of  such  obvious  or  easily  demonstrable 
facts  as  these,  it  is  clear  why  it  is  necessary  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  danger  of  purely  arbitrary  grading  of  pupils 
by  age,  as  e.  g.,  saying  that  "  pupils  should  enter  high 
school  at  fourteen  years  of  age"  or  that  "a  young  man 
should  be  through  college  before  he  is  twenty- three." 
But — "it  all  depends"!  There  are  indeed  several  other, 
though  minor  factors — e.  g.,  the  economic  condition  of 
the  student,  his  cultural  environment,  climate,  and  local 
social  tradition. 

Assuming  that  the  entire  course  of  a  professional  edu- 
cation is  in  view,  one  may  set  down  the  range  of  ages 
in  the  various  years  of  the  course  as  follows — viz.: 

221 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


School 
Kindergarten 

Elementary 

Secondary  (High) 

College 
Professional 


Length  of  Course    Grade    Ages  of  Pupils 


Two  years  ^ 
Eight  years 

Four  years 

Four  years 
Three  years 


II 

iin 

IV 
V* 

VI  5 

VII 
VIII 

f  lst« 
I  2d 
3d 
I  4th 
f  Ist 
I  2d 
!  3d 
I  4th  ^ 

r  1st 

I  2d 
I  3d 


4-6  years 
6-8 
.  7  -10 

8  -lU 

9  -13 
n   -14i 

10  -15 

11  -15i 

12  -16 

13  -16i 

14  -17 

15  -17^ 
15i-18 

16  -20 

17  -2U 

18  -23 

19  -25 

20  -26 

21  -28 

22  -30 


'  For  nearly  all  children,  one  year  is  a  long  enough  stay  in  the 
kindergarten;  but  children  should  never  start  primary  work  before 
she  is  five  years  and  six  months  old  or  he  is  six  years  old. 

^  A  study  of  the  statistics  of  two  million  pupils  shows  that  in  those 
systems  where  every  child  has  a  kindergarten  training,  the  laggards 
in  First  Grade  are  relatively  very  few.  Where  the  system  has  no 
or  but  few  kindergartens,  this  upper  age  limit  should  be  raised  to 
nine  years. 

*  Already  the  dullards  have  begun  to  appear.  They  may  later 
become  the  best  of  intellects,  but  they  affect  the  upper  age  limit 
significantly  by  this  grade. 

*  At  this  point,  the  naturally  precocious  begin  to  manifest  them- 
selves in  considerable  numbers  by  skipping  year  grades  or  half-year 
grades  and  then  "doing  the  best  work  though  the  youngest  in  the 
class,"  as  the  teachers  tell  the  fond  and  pleased  parents.  It  is  not 
always  a  dangerous  sign — in  girls.  The  precocious,  unless  of  ex- 
ceptional strength,  size  and  health,  should  be  somewhat  repressed, 
though  of  course  not  suppressed.  Otherwise,  the  school  helps  the 
mind  to  exhaust  the  body. 

*  At  this  point,  the  reaUy  dull  and  the  retarded  drop  out,  lowering 
the  upper  age  limit.     Here  the  muscular  motor  can  be  saved  for 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

Not  less  important  and  even  more  difficult  of  exposi- 
tion is  that  other  neglected  factor,  the  organization  of 
the  course  of  study.  For  all  the  work  that  has  been 
done  by  serious  educators  in  hundreds  of  towns  and  of 
cities  for  half  a  century,  our  public  schools  have  yet  not 
,  solved  the  two  great  problems  of  the  curriculum,  which 
are,  first,  at  what  ages  our  youth  should  study  each 
subject,  and,  second,  how  many  subjects  should  they 
take  at  one  stage — that  is,  in  one  grade.  Technically, 
the  first  problem  is — What  is  the  locus  of  each  study  and 
exercise?  We  must  solve  this  before  we  can  solve  the 
second  problem.  Each  of  these  problems  is  out  of 
the  control  of  the  class  teacher  in  any  system  of 
schools.  Even  rural  teachers  in  the  simple  district 
school  cannot  do  as  they  choose  in  teaching  sub- 
jects. 

The  problem  may  be  illustrated  by  examples,  of  which 
I  choose  three — viz.:  American  history  and  handwriting 
in  the  elementary  school,  and  geometry  in  the  high 
school — i.  e.,  an  informational  study,  a  psychological 
drill-exercise,  and  a  logical  study. 

schooling  only  by  handcrafts  taught  faithfully.  From  this  point  on, 
our  schools,  keeping  as  they  do  the  nervous  motor  and  the  reflective 
and  losing  the  vital  corpulent  and  the  muscular  motor,  no  longer 
reflect  the  average  condition  of  the  American  people  in  respect  to 
temperament.  Also  by  this  time,  the  prematurity  (racial  precocity) 
of  the  Slavic  and  Latin  stocks  has  drawn  most  of  them  into  the 
working  world. 

'  High  schools  should  now  have  only  five-year  and  six-year  courses. 
Their  work  is  typically  overcrowded  and  too  compacted. 

'  In  college  and  professional  school,  we  have  many  students  who 
have  gone  forward  discontinuously.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  for 
girls  if  they  were  required  to  stay  out  of  school  one  full  year  in  every 
quadrennial  period  of  their  education.  Such  is  my  own  course  with 
several  daughters. 

223 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

GRADES 


VIII 

VII 

X 

SUBJECT 

X 

VI 

1 

5  years 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 

2  years 

V 

1 

X 

IV 

X 

III 

II 

I 

We  may  do,  in  reason,  some  twelve  different  things 
with  this  situation.     Here  are  four  of  the  twelve — viz.: 

1.  We  may  teach  American  history  for  five  years,  in 
Grades  IV  to  VHI,  inclusive.     This  is  not  seldom  done. 

2.  We  may  teach  it  for  three  years,  in  Grades  VI-VIII. 

3.  We  may  teach  it  in  Grade  IV  and  review  it  again  in 
Grade  VII — a  two  years'  discontinuous  treatment. 

4.  We  may  teach  it  only  in  Grades  V-VI. 

I.  The  lower  the  locus  of  the  study,  the  easier  we  must 
try  to  make  its  content. 

II.  The  longer  its  locus,  the  more  complete  may  be 
its  treatment. 

III.  A  false  locus  betrays  the  true  philosophy  of  any 
subject. 

My  opinion  is  that  the  true  locus  of  American  hisCory  is 

(a)  in  Grades  VII-VIII,  with  pupils  of  the  ages 
assigned  above  (page  222j ; 

(6)  daily  for  a  forty-minute  period. 

This,  of  course,  is  above  the  compulsory  age-limit  of 
most  States;   but  that  age-limit  should  be  sixteen  years 

224 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 


of  age,  with  a  dollar  a  week  per  child  from  the  public 
funds  to  help  widows  bring  up  fatherless  boys  and  girls. 


8  years 


X 

1 

3  years 

X 

GRADES 

viri 

VII 

SUBJECT 

VI 
V 

HANDWRITING 

IV 

III 

II 

I 

Here  again  we  may  do  many  different  things.  I  ven- 
ture again  an  opinion  as  follows — viz.: 

(a)  The  formation  of  letters  should  be  taught  in 
Grades  I  and  II,  daily,  for  a  twenty-minute  period. 

(6)  Systematic  daily  drill  in  handwriting  as  an  art 
should  begin  in  Grade  IV  and  continue  through  Grades 
V  and  VI. 

(c)  The  boy  or  girl  who  has  not  then  learned  to  write 
well  should  be  forgotten  until  puberty  is  well  estab- 
lished, when  cross-heredity  may  give  better  nervous  and 
muscular  control;  and 

(d)  The  subject  may  be  taken  up  as  it  were  de  novo 
in  the  first  and  second  years  of  the  high-school  course. 

In  the  early  adolescent  period,  good  handwriting  is 
often  broken  up  forever;  but  I  do  not  recall  a  case  where 
a  boy  at  thirteen  years  of  age  or  a  girl  at  twelve  years 
who  could  not  write  well  learned  how  to  do  so  in  the  next 
two  years.    The  drill-period  for  most  boys  is  from  nine 

225 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


to  thirteen;  for  most  girls,  from  eight  to  eleven  years 
of  age. 

In  other  words,  we  now  spread  handwriting  too  gen- 
erally and  too  thinly  through  the  course.  As  a  special 
exercise,  it  should  be  concentrated  in  three  years. 
Though  I  do  not  deal  specifically  with  arithmetic  or 
geography  in  this  treatment,  I  entertain  similar  opinions 
regarding  their  pursuit. 

The  locus  of  geometry  has  been  shifted  up  and  down 
the  scale  of  the  grades,  up  and  down  from  top  to  bottom, 
several  times  since  Euclid  discovered  its  nature  and  first 
propositions.  In  one  form,  Froebel  placed  it  in  the 
kindergarten,  though  not  a  kindergarten  for  children 
under  six  years  old. 


College 


SUBJECT 


X 

I 
1  year 

I 
X 


GEOMETRY 


GRADES 

1st 

4th 

3d 
2d 

X 

1st 
VIII 

5  years 

X 

VII 
VI 
V 

IV 

III 
II 

I 

Kdgn. 

High  School 


^  Elementary 
School 


226 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

At  present,  many  of  "the  progressives"  propose  to 
place  some  geometry  in  the  kindergarten,  some  in  Grade 
VI  or  VII,  more  in  the  second  year  of  the  high  school, 
and  the  rest  in  college.  The  present  ''conservatives" 
would  force  it  all  into  the  second  high-school  year. 
Some  educators  for  decades  have  been  placing  it  in  the 
first  year  of  the  high  school  before  algebra.' 

The  question  of  what  is  the  true  locus  of  any  school 
subject  is  a  matter  of  fact,  to  be  determined  by  psycho- 
logical experiment  and  pedagogical  verification.  My 
own  opinion  is  that  for  educational  uses  we  have  dif- 
ferentiated arithmetic,  algebra  and  geometry  too  sharp- 
ly and  have  integrated  them  too  completely  and  that 
what  we  now  actually  need  is  elementary  mathematics 
for  our  grammar  grades  and  first  and  second  high-school 
years.  But  wanting  in  current  practice  such  a  logical 
order  as  will  put  the  topics  of  arithmetic,  algebra  and 
geometry  in  their  true  rational  relations,  I  incline  to 
the  view  that  arithmetic  now  has  too  low  a  locus  and  too 
long  a  range  in  our  elementary  schools  and  that  what 
we  know  as  geometry  should  occupy  one  and  a  half  years 
in  the  second  and  third  years  of  our  high  schools.^ 

The  second  of  the  great  unsolved  problems  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  curriculum  is  how  many  subjects  should 
be  assigned  to  each  grade.     This  is  a  special  problem  in 

*  In  1878,  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city  of  Dayton,  under  John 
Hancock,  a  famous  educator  of  that  period,  as  superintendent,  I 
studied  and  finished  algebra  in  the  Seventh  Grade  and  studied 
geometry  in  the  Eighth  Grade.  None  of  the  pupils  of  my  class  had 
any  serious  difficulties  with  either  subject.  The  average  age  of  the 
pupils  of  that  class  was  eleven  years  in  the  Seventh  Grade.  I  cite 
this  merely  to  indicate  that  it  is  unsafe  to  say  of  such  pedagogical 
propositions,  "It  cannot  be  done." 

^  For  a  course  of  study,  see  Appendix  IV. 
16  227 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

application  of  the  Aristotelian  principle  of  the  "golden 
mean."  On  the  one  side,  we  have  the  cliild  who  is  to 
make  his  growtli  and  to  live  his  own  life  as  an  individual. 
On  the  other  side,  we  have  a  great  and  a  complicated 
society  ever  growing  greater  and  more  complicated.  It  is 
dangerous  for  one  to  go  into  that  society  poorly  equipped 
in  knowledge  and  in  training.  It  Is  perilou&^r  society 
to  receive  one  more  individual  poorly  equipped.  It 
is  pretty  well  agreed  now  that  the  school  curriculum  is 
overcrowded  already.  It  is  likewise  agreed  that  our- 
schooL  "graduates"  commonly  know  rather  less  than 
they  should  know  before  entering  upon  their  life-work. 
The  first  consideration  requires  change  by  omissions  in 
the  course  of  study:  the  second  requires  change  by  ad- 
ditions. The  situation  is  worse  than  a  dilemma:  it  is 
a  battle  between  opposing  forces. 

It  may  help  somewhat  to  say  that  perhaps  age  as  a 
factor  may  be  important.  Perhaps  we  should  favor  the 
child  in  the  early  stages  of  education  and  society  in  the 
later.  Perhaps  a  better  professional  knowledge  of  the 
temperaments  of  children  and  more  skill  in  teaching 
may  help  somewhat.  Perhaps  we  squander  time  in 
teaching  the  motor  boys  to  be  efficient — they  are 
efficient  naturally;  the  vital  to  be  good  and  kind — they 
are  both  by  birth;  the  reflective  to,  be  careful — which 
they  cannot  help  being.  Certainly  some  of  us  squander 
time  in  teaching  badly  subjects  of  which  we  know  too 
little  and  exercises  in  whose  technique  we  are  seriouslj'' 
deficient.  But  even  so,  we  have  not  done  enough  to 
clear  up  this  difficulty  and  to  bring  the  individual 
himself  and  the  social  requirements  as  expressed  in 
the  course  of  study  into  a  harmony  that  properly 
unites   both.     Frankly,    the    problem   is    beyond   not 

228 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

only  class  teachers,  but  at  present  our  educationalists 
also. 

A  few  suggestions  may,  however,  help  practical  class 
teachers  in  a  measure. 

I.  The  apportionment  of  material  from  the  several 
subjects  of  an  elementary  or  secondary  school  course  is 
seldom  just  in  all  details.  When  it  is  unfair  as  between 
the  grades,  the  class  teachers  may  persuade  the  higher 
authorities  to  readjust  the  apportionments.  To  be 
specific:  I.  Generally  throughout  the  land,  too  much 
work  is  assigned  to  Grade  I,  especially  in  number  (arith- 
metic). There  are  many,  very  many,  ''Advanced  First 
Grades"  that  really  should  be  called  "Grade  II."  The 
test  is  simple  and  final.  Given  two  periods  of  twenty 
minutes  a  day,  how  much  work  in  numbers  can  a  class 
of  thirty-five  pupils  aged  six  to  eight  reasonably  do  in 
one  year?  This  means  that  all  except  the  feeble- 
minded and  the  lazy  are  to  pass, — all  of  them.  My  own 
opinion  is — Maximum,  the  number  12,  preferably  10; 
and  counting  to  100. — All  the  work  to  be  dramatized. 
Minimum,  —  wliich  I  consider  entirely  reasonable^ — 
counting  to  12,  no  dissection  of  any  numbers  at  all. 

II.  Generally,  in  order  to  prolong  the  subjects  of  the 
elementary  course  through  all  the  grades  there  is  a  deal  of 
what,  closely  considered,  is  scarcely  else  than  "marking 
time"  in  them  because  the  pupils  for  want  of  intellectual 
development  are  incapable  of  rapid  progress.  Intellect- 
ual development  is  itself  a  tricksome  phrase;  but  it  has 
meaning  enough  when  closely  considered — it  is  that 
thing  which  in  properly  constituted  individuals  is  the 
result  of  normal  physical  and  psychical  growth  in  com- 
bination  with  suitable  educational  advantages.  By  no 
means  all  the  progress  in  intellectual  power  to  be  ob- 

229 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

served  in  the  normal  child  between  his  condition  at 
entrance  to  kindergarten  and  his  condition  at  graduation 
from  grammar  school  is  due  to  the  school,  for  some  of 
it,  despite  the  naive  assumptions  of  his  teachers,  has 
been  due  to  natural  growth. 

2.  "When  the  directions  of  the  higher  authorities  are 
not  so  detailed  as  to  make  the  two  following  suggestions 
impracticable  without  violation  of  such  directions,  we 
may  ease  the  daily  work  in  a  measure,  first,  by  omitting 
some  subjects  for  a  term  and  emphasizing  other  and  then 
emphasizing  the  omitted  subjects  and  dropping  others 
for  a  time,  and,  second,  by  having  somewhat  different 
programs  for  (say)  Mondays  and  Thursdays  from  those 
for  Tuesdays,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays/ 

To  illustrate : — The  course  of  study  may  call  for  so  much 
history  and  so  much  geography  each  year;  but  it  may  per- 
haps be  permissible  to  take  the  history  for  one  half  of  the 
year  and  the  geography  for  the  other  half. 

Again: — The  course  may  call  for  drawing  and  manual 
training  each  term ;  but  in  such  case  it  may  be  permissible 
to  give  the  drawing  three  days  a  week  and  the  manual  train- 
ing for  two  days.  Such  are  two  possible  applications  of  the 
principle. 

3.  The  class,  even  though  properly  graded,  may  be 
divided  into  three  or  four  groups  for  recitation,  study, 
construction  lessons  and  other  purposes.  In  some  cities, 
in  lower  grades  it  is  the  universal  practice;  and  not  in- 
frequent in  the  higher  grades.  Whether  it  is  desirable 
or  not  depends  much  upon  the  temperament  and  tech- 
nical training  of  the  teacher.  That  it  promotes  the  wel- 
fare of  peculiar  children  is  certain. 

>  See  pages  123,  140,  141,  above. 
230 


CLASSIFYING,  MARKING,  GRADING,  PROMOTING 

4.  In  almost  any  class,  there  are  some  children  who 
are  unusually  proficient  in  some  subjects  and  yet  al- 
most correspondingly  deficient  in  others.  Unless  the 
higher  authorities  have  been  unduly  detailed  in  their 
prescriptions,  the  class  teacher  may  so  vary  the  pro- 
grams of  individual  students  as  to  permit  them  to  put 
their  strength  where  it  is  needed.  To  be  specific :  A  girl 
in  Grade  III  actually  reads  well  enough  to  be  in 
Grade  VI,  but  is  poor  in  arithmetic.  Let  her  take  four 
of  the  five  reading  periods  a  week  for  extra  study  upon 
arithmetic.  Or  a  boy  in  Grade  V  is  good  in  arithmetic, 
but  poor  in  spelling:  let  him  omit  two  or  three  lessons 
a  week  in  arithmetic  for  a  time  in  order  to  give  extra 
study  to  spelling. 

In  general,  for  the  entire  situation,  I  heartily  indorse 
the  practice  of  giving  to  every  pupil  in  school  at  the 
least  one-third  of  his  time  daily  to  study  and  to  the 
preparation  of  lessons  and  to  every  teacher  one-fifth  of 
liis  or  her  time  solely  to  the  supervision  of  the  pupils 
in  individual  study.  To  put  the  matter  otherwise:  In- 
stead of  trying  to  give  to  the  pupils  as  many  hours  of 
recitation  and  of  exercises  daily  as  possible,  try  rather 
to  give  them  at  least  one-third  and  preferably  one-half 
of  the  time  daily  to  study.  Where  classes  are  divided 
into  several  groups,  this  is  easy  of  accomplishment. 

Even  if  we  must  overcrowd  the  curriculum  for  the 
school  considered  as  a  whole,  let  us  not  overcrowd 
the  individual  pupil.  How  to  organize  our  school 
courses  so  as  to  avoid  the  former  offence  to  a 
sound  applied  psychology,  may  be  a  problem  for  philo- 
sophical educators;  but  the  latter  problem  is  the  busi- 
ness of  every  practical  class  teacher.  Short  hours  and 
high  pressure  is  the  new  educational  order;  but  it  must 

231 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

not  mean  defrauding  the  pupil  either  of  his  right  to  pre- 
pare his  lessons  at  school  and  to  review  them  at  school, 
or  of  his  right  to  pursue  at  each  stage  in  his  education 
a  few  and  not  a  multitude  of  studies  and  exercises. 

Intellectual  confusion  is  too  high  a  price  to  pay  for 
enlightenment  from  too  many  directions  at  once. 


"We  should  therefore  see  if  it  be  possible  to  place  the  art 
of  intellectual  discipline  on  such  a  firm  basis  that  sure  and 
certain  progress  may  be  made.  Since  this  basis  can  be 
properly  laid  only  by  assimilating  the  processes  of  art  as 
much  as  possible  to  those  of  Nature,  we  will  follow  the 
method  of  Nature,  taking  as  our  example  a  bird  hatching 
out  its  young;  and  if  we  see  with  what  good  results  gar- 
deners, artists,  and  builders  follow  in  the  track  of  Nature, 
we  shall  have  to  recognize  that  the  educator  of  youth  should 
follow  in  the  same  track. 

"Nature  observes  a  suitable  time. 

"Nature  is  not  confused  in  its  operations,  but  in  its  for- 
ward progress  advances  distinctly  from  one  point  to 
another. 

"In  all  the  operations  of  Nature,  development  is  from 
within." — CoMENius,  The  Great  Didactic.     1649. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HOW  TO  MAKE  A  GOOD  SCHOOL  AND  A  GOOD  CLASS 

The  school  as  seen  by  a  visitor. — Active  attention,  absorbed  atten- 
tion, deliberative  attention. — Order  and  decorum  of  the  pupils. — The 
use  of  the  English  language. — Voice. — Condition  of  the  room  itself. 
— School  equipment. — Qualifications  as  seen  by  systematic  ob- 
servers.— Aims  of  the  good  class  teacher. — The  school  spirit. — In- 
terest of  each  pupil  in  his  own  welfare:  self-activity. — Tlie  school 
neighborhood. — The  financial  authorities. — Public  opinion. 

IN  order  to  have  a  good  class,  three  things  are  always 
requisite, — an  ideal,  an  intention  to  realize  it,  and 
skill.  It  may  help  to  form  the  ideal  for  us  to  consider 
how  others  judge  classes. 

There  are  several  degrees  in  which  one  may  discrimi- 
nate regarding  teachers.  The  first  is  by  looking  in  upon 
their  classes.  The  second  is  by  periodical  visits  to  the 
classes,  staying  long  enough  to  see  the  work  in  process. 
The  third  is  to  observe  systematically  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  the  later  history  of  the  pupils. 

It  is  a  safe  opinion  to  venture  that  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten  a  skilful  supervisor's  impression  of  a  class  will 
be  borne  out  substantially  unchanged, — save  as  the 
class  changes, — by  a  series  of  visits  fortnightly  or  often 
for  a  year,  and  that  his  greatest  disappointment  will  be 
in  case  it  does  not  change  for  the  better,  and  that  upon 
his  first  visit,  from  the  relation  then  discovered  between 
the  teacher  and  the  class,  he  will  be  able  to  predict  the 

235 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

future  record  of  that  class.  The  excellence  of  skill  in- 
deed is,  given  unchanged  factors,  in  the  certainty  of  its 
prediction.  Conversely  once  in  ten  cases,  the  single 
observation  will  prove  erroneous.  It  may  have  been 
too  favorable  or  too  unfavorable.  Hence  in  about  nine- 
teen cases  out  of  twenty,  the  single  observation  is  as 
favorable  as  was  fitting.  Once  in  twenty  cases,  it  was 
not  favorable  enough.  Unskilful  supervisors  and  lay- 
men make  many  errors  upon  single  observations,  though 
seldom  against  the  teacher.  In  other  words,  when  a 
layman  or  an  unskilful  supervisor  reports,  after  one  brief 
visit,  that  a  teacher  is  incompetent,  he  is  seldom  wrong: 
but  when  he  reports  favorably,  he  is  much  more  likely 
to  be  wrong. 

It  is  also  a  safe  enough  opinion  that  a  skilful  super- 
visor's annual  report  regarding  the  work  of  a  teacher  in 
a  class  that  he  has  visited  (say)  fortnightly  for  a  year, 
staying  in  all  at  least  ten  hours  in  the  room,  would  not 
be  challenged  once  in  a  hundred  cases  by  any  committee 
of  supervisors  making  a  drastic  examination  of  the 
teacher's  work  because  of  that  report.  Less  than  once 
in  a  hundred  cases,  he  will  report  erroneously;  but  he  is 
just  as  likely  to  be  too  favorable  as  too  unfavorable,  so 
that  scarcely  once  in  two  hundred  cases  is  a  skilful  super- 
visor's annual  report  on  a  teacher  too  unfavorable  and 
therefore  unfair. 

Teachers  also  in  their  views  of  supervisors  are  just  as 
likely  to  be  lenient  as  to  be  censorious. 

And  it  is  a  safe  enough  opinion  that  after  a  teacher 
has  taught  in  the  same  neighborhood  five  years,  the  pro- 
fessional opinion  entertained  of  that  teacher  will  be  the 
same  in  nearly  every  case  as  the  opinion  of  the  great 
majority  of  the  parents  and  citizens.     I  am  speaking 

236 


HOW   TO   MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

now  solely  of  class  teachers,  not  of  supervisory  officers. 
I  have  had  over  three  thousand  different  teachers  under 
my  official  observation;  I  have  investigated  the  records 
of  several  times  as  many  more;  and  I  do  not  recall  ten 
instances  where  the  professional  opinion  regarding  an 
experienced  teacher  differed  materially  from  that  of  a 
majority  of  the  lay-observers  of  that  teacher.  As  super- 
intendent in  four  different  cities,  I  have  known  but  two 
cases  where  the  general  opinion  of  the  citizens  regarding 
the  experienced  class  teachers  was  materially  difTerent 
from  that  of  the  supervisory  officers.  In  both  these 
cases,  professional  opinion  proved  upon  later  develop- 
ments to  be  right,  and  public  opinion  wrong;  and  in 
both  cases,  the  public  were  too  lenient,  mistaking  in  one 
instance  physical  force  for  moral  power  and  in  the  other 
pretentious  affability  for  constant  scholarship.  Leniency 
to  teacher  or  to  supervisor  is,  of  course,  a  wrong  to  the 
pupils.  And  censoriousness  is  a  wrong  to  the  edu- 
cator. 

It  appears  that  since  the  critics  are  usually  right,  per- 
haps the  criticized  may  benefit  by  learning  beforehand 
by  what  criterions  the  professional  and  lay-critics  judge. 

Taking  first  the  half-hour  visit,  let  us  note  seriatim 
what  the  skilful  observer  seeks  to  discover. 

1.  Upon  entrance  to  the  room,  one  notices  the  air  of 
the  pupils  and  of  the  teacher.  This  "air"  is  a  matter, 
in  the  main,  of  the  attention  that  is  being  paid  by  both 
pupils  and  teacher  to  the  work.  There  are  three  kinds 
of  attention.  The  first  is  active  attention, — ^listening, 
seeing,  toucliing.  In  part,  it  represents  usually  the 
activity  of  the  "special  senses," — seeing,  hearing,  touch- 
ing, smelling,  tasting.  But  it  represents  also  the  direct 
activity  of  the  mind  aroused  by  and  considering  the 

237 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

things  brought  before  it  by  these  senses.^  The  second 
is  absorbed  attention,  commonly  known  as  concentration, 
and  usually  in  evidence  when  one  is  interested  in  the 
work  at  hand.  In  such  a  case,  no  attention  is  being 
paid  to  what  is  going  on  around  the  worker,  who  is  "  lost " 
in  his  task.  The  third  kind  is  deliberative  attention,  when 
one  is  thinking  upon  something  in  consciousness. 

A  visitor  should  expect  to  discover  from  their  coun- 
tenances, attitudes,  and  manners  active  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  students,  should  the  teacher  be  giving  instruc- 
tion or  conducting  a  recitation;  absorbed  attention,  should 
they  be  engaged  in  lesson-study  or  upon  the  perform- 
ance of  some  assigned  exercise;  and  deliberative  atten- 
tion, should  their  duty  be  to  think  something  over. 

The  opposite  of  these  modes  of  attention  are  (1)  no 
attention  at  all,  but  sheer  passivity;  (2)  dissipated  at- 
tention, with  eyes  for  everything  and  yet  for  nothing; 
and  (3)  misdirected  attention,  more  commonly  known 
as  "mischievousness." 

2.  The  visitor  notices  the  general  order  of  the  room 
and  the  decorum  of  individual  pupils.  Order  does  not 
necessarily  mean  stillness;  but  it  does  mean  something 
less  than  noisiness.  It  means  progress  from  one 
item  of  the  matter  under  consideration  to  another; 
it  is  the  opposite  of  confusion.  It  .may  not  mean 
silence;     but    it    does    not    mean    whispering,^    note- 

'  This,  of  course,  is  not  to  be  taken  as  asserting  the  limitation  of 
the  senses  to  five  in  number.  For  the  locations  and  nature  of  our 
40,000  "special"  senses,  see  Titchener's  Outlines  of  Psychology,  page 
67.  For  the  educational  significance  of  sense-life,  see  A  Theory  oj 
Motives,  Ideals  and  Values  in  Education,  Chapter  XI,  "Intelligence." 

^  Whispering  is  a  technical  school  offence, — it  is  speaking  to  an- 
other pupil  without  general  or  specific  permission.  How  much 
communication  between  pupils,  a  teacher  should  permit  depends 

238 


HOW   TO  MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL   AND   CLASS 

writing,  and  an  undertone  of  voices,  with  strange 
signalings  and  eye-winkings.  It  does  not  necessarily 
mean  all  the  pupils  doing  uniformly  the  same  things  at 
the  same  time;  but  it  certainly  does  mean  that  each 
pupil  is  doing  with  appropriate  quietness  the  thing  that 
his  teacher  wishes  done.  It  means  that  reason  is  in 
control.  In  an  elementary  or  secondary  school,  order 
means  obedience  to  the  rules  as  expressed  and  enforced 
ultimately  by  the  teachers. 

3.  The  blackboard  will  be  noticed.  Good  teachers 
have  blackboard  work  appropriate  to  their  grades. 
Their  own  blackboard  instruction  is  legibly  and  neatly 
written;  their  handwriting  is  neither  a  scrawl  nor  a 
flourishing  scroll,  but  a  fair  model.  Much  of  the  work 
on  the  blackboard  will  be  that  of  the  pupils;  and  while 
no  reasonable  visitor  will  expect  perfection,  he  will  ex- 
pect to  see  evidences  that  the  teacher  tries  to  secure 
careful  writing  from  the  pupils.  The  notion  that  unless 
all  pupils  do  excellent  work  the  teacher  is  incompetent, 
springs  from  the  false  assumption  that  the  order  of  a 
teacher  is  the  equivalent  to  performance  by  the  pupils: 
it  is  in  short  the  denial  that  education  is  a  process  re- 
quiring time,  going  forward  by  stages,  issuing  from  in- 
ternal endeavor,  and  only  eventuating  at  the  end  in  the 
faithful  and  congenitally  normal  pupils  in  the  degree  of 
perfection  desired. 

It  is  perhaps  expedient  to  note  here  that  the  black- 
board is  rather  for  exercising  the  powers  of  the  pupils 
than  for  displaying  the  accomplishments  of  the  teacher 
in  writing  and  in  drawing.     It  follows  that  while  in 

upon  many  considerations.  But  in  general,  let  us  remember  that 
inhibition  is  a  large  part  of  education  because  it  is  a  condition  co- 
incident with  concentration. 

239 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

lower  grades  some  blackboard  illustrations  by  the  teach- 
er are  desirable,  even  in  such  grades  most  of  the  space 
should  be  used  daily  by  the  pupils. 

4.  The  visitor  will  probably  notice  the  orderliness  of 
the  teacher's  own  desk,  and  the  neatness  and  appro- 
priateness of  his  or  her  mode  of  dress.  Mere  newness  or 
richness  of  attire  is  not  the  desideratum,  but  on  the 
contrary  may  be  objectionable  as  attracting  undue  at- 
tention. Simplicity,  durability,  ease  of  fit,  a  texture 
that  throws  off  dust  or  else  washableness  of  the  fabric, 
and  dignity  or  harmony  of  cut  and  of  color  are  the 
desiderata. 

5.  The  cleanness  of  the  room  is  likely  to  come  under 
the  eye  of  the  visitor.  Of  course,  in  graded  schools 
there  are  janitors,  and  often  janitors  are  appointed  from 
politics;^  nor  are  they  appointed  by  the  teacher.  But  a 
good  teacher  usually  finds  a  way  to  persuade  or  to  com- 
pel the  janitor  to  keep  his  or  her  room  clean, — usually,  not 
always,  for  in  the  conditions  prevailing  in  some  American 
communities,  the  janitors  are  sometimes  both  indifferent 
to  their  real  business,  which  is  to  keep  the  school-house 
clean,  and  too  sure  of  their  positions  to  care  what  the 
teachers  think  and  say  of  their  services.  In  some  dis- 
trict schools,  the  teachers  are  also  janitors;  in  which 
case,  they  should  keep  their  schools  clean  as  a  duty 
quite  as  important  as  teaching  well. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  teachers  whose  rooms 
are  always  littered  with  papers  or  pieces  of  chalk;  where 
rags  for  wiping  pens  and  for  cleaning  the  brushes  used 

*  This  word  has  come  to  include  every  quality  other  than  a  sincere 
desire  and  a  proper  method  to  secure  the  best  person  for  a  position, 
the  best  plan  for  an  enterprise,  the  best  means  for  the  end  rationally 
and  morally  proposed. 

240 


HOW   TO  MAKE    A   GOOD    SCHOOL  AN l  CLASS 

in  color-work  are  hung  on  the  school  desk-irons;  ther 
books  are  lying  "every  which  way"  in  the  book-cloll. 
where  the  pupOs'  caps  and  coats,  hats  and  cloaks  ai 
anywhere  but  in  the  wardrobe ;   and  where  the  vis- 
itors'   chairs    are   broken ;    and    yet    where    the   jan- 
itors   are    excellent    men,    constantly    protesting    to 
these  very  teachers  to  take  more  pains  in  these  mat- 
ters. 

6.  The  visitor  is  likely  to  note  many  other  items, — 
such  as  the  even  or  uneven  drawing  of  the  shades,  the 
mode  of  greeting  as  he  enters,  the  mode  of  enduring  his 
presence,  and  the  mode  of  greeting  at  his  exit.  These 
items  are  relatively  perhaps  not  important;  but  they 
affect  his  general  opinion.  A  well-controlled  class  is 
not  likely  to  pay  much  attention  to  the  advent,  pres- 
ence, or  departure  of  a  visitor;  and  a  socially  experienced 
teacher  will  be  friendly  yet  not  only  at  ease  but  also  not 
unduly  concerned  at  the  visit.  A  public  school  is  indeed 
public;  even  our  private  schools  in  America  are  usually 
open  to  visitors.  It  is  now  the  better  approved  course 
not  to  train  the  pupils  to  give  a  general  greeting  to 
casual  visitors,  but  to  expect  them  to  proceed  quietly 
^vith  their  tasks. 

7.  In  staying  a  half-hour,  the  visitor  is  likely  to  note 
many  of  the  following  features  of  the  educational  proc- 
ess in  that  room — viz.: 

1.  The  style  of  conducting  the  recitation,  (a)  Whether 
the  instruction,  whatever  be  the  method,  holds  all  or 
nearly  all  the  pupils  greatly  interested.  (6)  Whether 
the  lesson  makes  steady  headway  to  the  appointed 
goal,  (c)  Whether  the  teacher  is  disconcerted  either 
by  the  ignorance  or  mistakes  of  some  of  the  pupils  or 
by  misconduct. 

241 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   APPLICABLE   IN   ALL   LESSONS 

1.  Call  upon  each  pupil  in  each  lesson  at  least  once. 

2.  Give  one  who  fails,  if  possible,  a  second  question. 

3.  Help  the  one  who  is  likely  to  fail;  but  do  not  tell  the 
answer  until  his  curiosity  is  thoroughly  aroused. 

4.  Except  in  reviews,  ask  questions  promiscuously. 

5.  In  reviews,  it  is  permissible  to  go  around  the  class  by 
rows  and  files  or  alphabetically  or  in  any  other  order. 

6.  Ask  the  inattentive  pupil  an  unexpected  question. 

7.  Usually  ask  the  question  before  naming  the  pupil  who 
is  to  answer  it. 

8.  Require  nearly  all  answers  in  complete  sentences. 

9.  Avoid  asking  questions  of  those  who  know  the  answers. 
'^f  10.  Ask  questions  of  such  a  nature  as  to  induce  the  pupils 
thereafter  more  and  more  diligently  to  study  their  lessons. 

11.  Often  get  various  answers  and  compare  them. 

12.  In  some  subjects,  at  times,  let  some  pupils  do  black- 
board-writing while  others  write  at  their  desks  and  still 
others  recite. 

13.  Try  to  develop  pupils  at  their  weak  places,  but  do  not 
persist  in  this  to  the  point  of  discouraging  any. 

14.  Do  not  allow  the  questions  of  the  pupils  to  hinder  or 
to  sidetrack  the  progress  of  the  lesson:  answer  such  ques- 
tions at  another  time. 

15.  Use  new  material,  not  in  the  books,  and  original  il- 
lustrations. 

16.  Require  erect  positions  and  distinct  speech. 

17.  Develop  the  originalities  of  each  pupil. 

18.  Talk  to  the  pupils,  imparting  knowledge ;  but  do  not 
talk  too  much.     Let  them  do  most  of  the  talking. 

19.  Leave  no  points  of  difficulty  untouched;  but  some- 
times ask  pupils  to  think  about  a  question  for  to-morrow. 

20.  Never  publicly  praise  individual  pupils  or  censure 
any,  beyond  pronouncing  answers  right  or  wrong. 

21.  Shift  from  the  original  predetermined  plan  only  when 
sure  that  to  do  so  will  be  more  helpful  to  the  pupils. 

22.  Aim  to  teach  mainly  the  middle  third  of  the  class 
rather  than  the  upper  or  lower  third ;  but  neglect  none. 

242 


HOW   TO  MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

IL  The  style  of  passing  from  one  recitation  to  another 
or  to  recess.  Quietness  yet  promptness  is  the  ideal. 
The  pupils  should  know  what  to  do,  and  do  it. 

Whether  there  be  signals  on  the  bell  or  mere  words 
■of  direction  matters  little. 

IIL  When  the  visit  is  at  recess  or  before  or  after 
school,  the  visitor  is  likely  to  notice  both  the  manner 
and  executive  ability  of  the  teacher  in  the  direction  of 
the  movements  of  the  class  and  in  the  degree  of  prompt- 
ness, of  orderliness,  and  of  general  courtesy  one  to  an- 
other displayed  by  the  pupils  in  their  movements. 

IV.  The  teacher's  command  of  the  subject-matter  of 
the  lessons  and  skill  in  instruction, — whether  this  be  in 
reading  or  in  drawing  or  in  Latin  or  in  shop-work.  Of 
our  teachers,  we  expect  adequate  scholarship  and  satis- 
factory technique.  Errors  by  the  teacher  in  matters  of 
fact,  ignorance  of  or  failure  to  understand  essential  prin- 
ciples, and  clumsiness  in  the  physical  exercises  are  all 
unfortunate  in  the  eyes  of  adult  visitors,  however  blind 
the  pupils  may  be  to  them. 

V.  Though  the  visitor  liimself  be  no  expert  in  the  use 
of  words,  he  will  probably  be  a  sharp  critic  of  the  Eng- 
lish of  the  teacher.  It  is  not  fluency  so  much  as  facility 
and  accuracy  that  are  required  of  the  teacher.  There 
is  scarcely  any  one  other  quality  of  the  teacher  to  which 
the  general  public  is  so  sensitive  as  to  his  language- 
power  in  respect  alike  to  grammar  and  to  rhetoric,  to 
the  tones  and  pitch  of  the  voice  and  to  the  excellence 
of  articulation. 

Teachers  who  are  deficient  in  English  should  them- 
selves learn  memoriter  smooth  English  prose,  daily, 
until  their  thought  is  organized  in  the  habit  of  clear  and 
smooth  oral  sentence-making.    They  do  well  also  to 

17  243 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

learn  for  oral  recital,  if  only  in  their  own  rooms,  good 
passages  of  both  prose  and  verse,  in  order  to  train  their 
vocal  organs.  For  some  teachers,  this  is  a  hard  disci- 
pline; but  the  very  hardness  of  it  shows  the  need.  Could 
such  teachers  hear  themselves,  should  they  have  phono- 
graphic records  made  for  later  reproduction,  they  would 
be  eager  to  correct  their  own  utterance,  however  hard 
the  labor.  The  teacher  should  speak  distinctly,  quietly, 
not  monotonously,  and  with  genuine  interest  in  what 
he  says. 

VI.  When  the  visitor  happens  to  be  in  the  class-room 
upon  an  occasion  of  an  infraction  of  discipline,  he  is  cer- 
tain to  note  the  mode  and  the  device  of  correction  and 
the  temper  of  the  teacher  in  making  the  correction.  It 
is  an  absolutely  invariable  rule  that 

A  good  teacher  is  patient  and  calm  and  kind  under  any 
and  all  circumstances.  In  my  own  experience,  I  have 
known  (a)  a  principal  to  be  struck  with  a  stiletto  that 
drew  blood,  (6)  a  woman  teacher  to  be  seized  by  an  in- 
subordinate boy  who  attempted  to  strangle  her  at  the 
throat,  and  (c)  another  woman  teacher  to  be  knocked 
down  and  jumped  upon  by  a  boy  so  terribly  enraged 
that  the  other  pupils  were  afraid  to  try  to  rescue  her. 
In  each  case,  the  teacher  was  absolutely  right  from  be- 
ginning to  end  throughout  the  affair,  (a)  The  boy  at- 
tacked the  principal  under  orders  from  criminals  who 
had  been  offended  at  his  activity  in  trying  to  clean  the 
neighborhood  of  certain  nuisances.  (6)  The  boy  was 
subject  to  epileptic  fits  preceded  by  great  nervous  dis- 
order, (c)  The  boy  was  a  congenital  criminal.  It  may 
perhaps  be  asked  whether  the  teachers  should  and  did 
resist.  Certainly;  but  in  resisting,  not  one  "lost  his 
head"  or  was  other  than  patient,  calm  and  kind.     It  is 

244 


HOW  TO  MAKE  A  GOOD  SCHOOL  AND  CLASS 

perhaps  needless  to  add  that  each  of  these  cases  was 
accorded  a  proper  punishment, — viz.:  (a)  the  reform 
school;  (6)  suspension  until  recovery  of  health;  and 
(c)  expulsion  from  school  with  assignment  to  a  probation 
officer.  It  is  significant  indeed  that  when  three  persons 
can  so  conduct  themselves  under  terrible  danger  as  well 
as  outrageous  provocation,  other  teachers  will  act  other- 
wise even  in  respect  to  relatively  trivial  matters.  Act- 
ing otherwise  than  calmly  and  considerately  is,  of  course, 
the  sin  of  unreasonable  action  by  man,  whom  God  means 
to  be  the  reasoning  creature.  An  ecstasy  of  anger  or 
of  fear  may  be  the  fact  that  causes  the  sin,  but  it  is 
no  excuse. 
This  principle  may  be  stated  negatively — viz.: 

1 .  Do  not  raise  the  voice  to  loud  tones  in  giving  reproof, 

2.  Never  strike  any  pupil  at  any  time  in  the  presence  of 
the  class  beyond  the  extent  of  resistance.* 

3.  Do  nothing  that  you  may  later  regret:   keep  cool. 

4.  Never  use  sarcasm,  never:  it  is  worse  than  a  blow. 

By  observing  these  principles,  the  teacher  keeps  the 
public  opinion  of  the  class  upon  his  side,  an  enormous 
moral  advantage. 

VIL  The  visitor  cannot  help  seeing  the  personal  rela- 
tions that  exist  between  the  teacher  and  the  pupils, 
(a)  There  is  a  general  personal  relation  between  the 
teacher  and  the  class  as  a  whole.  This  should  be  that 
of  a  friendly  superior  assisting  friendly  inferiors:  it  is 
not  a  relation  of  equals,  nor  should  there  be  any  humble- 
ness or  deference  toward  the  pupils  beyond  a  considerate 
hearing  of  their  ideas.     A  good  teacher,  though  always 

'  See  Chapter  VI,  pages  146-164,  as  to  corporal  punishment. 

245 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

sympathetic  with  individuals,  is  always  a  little  aloof 
from  the  class  considered  as  a  whole.  Some  time  ago, 
I  had  a  singular  instance  of  the  effectiveness  of  this 
quality  of  loving  but  impersonal  superiority.  A  highly 
educated  man  of  long  teaching  experience  was  assigned 
to  a  class  of  a  grade  with  pupils  averaging  fourteen  years 
of  age.  Day  by  day  for  four  months,  despite  all  his 
efforts,  their  conduct  grew  worse  and  worse.  A  woman 
much  younger,  scarcely  half  his  weight  of  body,  and  a 
foot  shorter,  was  transferred  to  the  class.  Two  days 
later,  she  reported  that  she  "never  had  a  better  class-": 
it  was  her  seventh  year  of  experience.  Next  day,  I 
visited  the  room.  The  "secret"  was  on  the  surface. 
She  had  won  the  respect  of  the  pupils  not  by  asking 
for  it,  but  by  assuming  a  quiet  composure  that  must  have 
come  hard  the  first  day  at  least.  Later,  I  found  upon 
inquiry  that  she  had  simply  ignored  the  doctrine  of 
punishment  that  first  day  and  calmly  proceeded  to 
"teach  school"  despite  actually  iasolent  interruptions 
both  by  word  of  mouth  and  by  free  moving  about  the 
room.  This  procedure  of  hers  fascinated  the  attention 
of  the  pupils  and  her  own  self-command  won  their  ad- 
miration. A  few  days  later,  the  transfer  of  a  single  boyj. 
out  of  the  room  to  a  class  where  he  had  no  friends  com- 
pleted the  entire  affair  of  reducing  that  disorderly  room 
to  excellent  conduct. 

(b)  There  are  also  personal  relations  with  each  and 
every  pupil.  Here  two  rules  apply.  I.  Have  no  favor- 
ites. II.  Never  nag:  send  no  children  to  Coventry.  If 
there  is  to  be  any  social  taboo  of  bad  children,  let  it 
be  on  the  part  of  the  other  children.  By  observing  these 
two  rules,  the  teacher  gets  the  approval  of  the  class  as 
a  whole,  which  is  the  best  sanction  for  all  discipline. 

246 


HOW  TO  MAKE   A  GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

Once,  on  a  school  ground,  I  heard  three  boys  tell  an- 
other boy, — "Say,  quit  bothering  teacher.  She's  the 
best  teacher  in  the  whole  school,  and  you  know  it."  It 
is  unnecessary  to  tell  the  rest  of  the  story:  that  boy 
knew  his  line  from  that  minute,  and  he  walked  the 
line. 

How  far  the  teacher  should  go  in  helping  individuals 
depends  upon  many  considerations.  A  readiness  to  help 
each  one  is  quickly  known  among  the  pupils;  but  there 
is  a  certain  overconscientiousness  on  the  part  of  some 
teachers  that  unduly  taxes  their  strength.  Here,  as  in 
all  practical  applications  of  principles,  one  must  find 
and  follow  ''the  golden  mean."  Too  much  helping  of 
individuals  weakens  them  and  wearies  the  teacher;  not 
enough  alienates  the  pupils  and  hardens  the  teacher's 
heart  and  conscience.  The  right  amount  of  individual 
attention  depends  (a)  upon  the  grade  and  the  school, 
(6)  upon  the  number  of  pupils,  (c)  upon  the  health  of 
the  teacher. 

This  works  out  as  follows — viz.: 

(a)  Little  children  require  frequent  help  upon  small 
matters,  while  larger  ones  require  occasional  help  upon 
great  matters.  (6)  The  larger  the  class,  the  less  of  in- 
dividual help  should  be  attempted.  One  must  consider 
the  scale  of  one's  effort,  (c)  A  vigorous  young  teacher 
can  do  more  than  a  less  hearty  and  older  teacher.  The 
criterion  is — never  do  so  severe  a  day's  work  as  to  be 
incapacitated  for  standard  work  in  class  the  next  dky. 
This  is  not  only  to  advocate  the  right  of  the  teacher  to  life 
and  health  and  the  joy  of  labor — wliich  may  be  denied 
by  the  undiscerning.  It  is  to  advocate  also  the  right  of 
the  class  as  a  whole  to  an  honest,  helpful  year's  work, 
from  a  patient,  healthy,  cheerful  teacher. 

247 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

VIIL  The  visitor  is  likely  to  note  the  ventilation  and 
temperature  of  the  room,  the  amount  of  light  admitted 
by  the  windows  and  shades,  and  the  manner  in  which 
the  teacher  excuses  the  children  who  desire  to  leave  the 
room.  None  of  these  matters  of  sanitation,  lighting  and 
hygiene  is  entirely  within  the  control  of  class-room 
teachers;  and  yet  all  so  concern  the  health  of  children 
and  youth  as  to  demand  attention  here. 

(a)  Ventilation.^  Every  school-room  requires  a  com- 
plete renewal  of  fresh  air  at  least  every  eight  minutes. 
This  can  be  secured  only  by  ventilation  forced  by  fans 
or  in  part  by  fans  and  in  part  by  heated  exhaust  flues. 
But  where  there  is  no  system  of  ventilation,  the  teacher 
can  have  frequent  calisthenic  periods  when  the  windows 
should  be  thrown  open  and  the  air  changed  while  the 
pupils  are  taking  exercise.  In  case  that  any  windows  are 
left  open,  it  is  important  to  see  that  no  drafts  come 
directly  upon  the  children.^ 

Even  in  rural  school-houses,  fair  ventilation  can  be 
secured  in  winter  by  ventilating  stoves,  of  which  there 
are  now  many  kinds  upon  the  market.  These  deliver 
the  heat  evenly  over  the  entire  room  and  use  actually 
less  coal  than  the  ordinary  stoves  that  superheat  the 
parts  of  the  room  near  them,  while  the  remote  parts 
are  cold. 

Every  school-room  should  have  exhaust  flues  open- 
ing near  the  floor  to  take  out  the  foul  air.     It  is  indeed 

'  For  a  complete  discussion  of  the  equipment  of  the  class-room,  see 
Our  City  Schools:  Their  Direction  and  Management,  Chapter  V. 

^  Sometimes  in  new  and  admirably  ventilated  school-houses,  the 
inlet  flues  blow  directly  upon  the  pupils  or  upon  the  teacher,  in 
which  case  an  immediate  remedy  for  deflection  of  the  air  should  be 
provided  by  some  appropriate  device,  familiar  enough  to  school- 
house  architects, 

248 


HOW   TO  MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL   AND   CLASS 

often  difficult  and  sometimes  impossible  to  persuade  rural 
school  communities  to  ventilate  their  schools;  and  yet 
even  in  the  country  districts  in  many  parts  of  the  land 
great  progress  is  now  being  made.^  Teachers  every- 
where should  understand  that  air  once  breathed  is  no 
more  fit  to  be  breathed  again  than  is  water  once  drunk 
fit  for  drinking.  Such  air  is  deficient  in  oxygen, 
loaded  with  carbonic-acid  gas,  and  foul  with  organic 
matter. 

(b)  Lighting.  All  the  light  in  a  school  should  come 
from  one  side,  preferably  the  left  side  of  the  children's 
desks.  Sometimes  even  so,  too  much  light  enters. 
There  should  be  two  shades  upon  each  window  at  the 
center — one  to  roll  up,  and  the  other  to  roll  down.  A 
competent  teacher  will  keep  the  shades  from  hour  to 
hour  properly  adjusted  to  the  pupils'  needs.  Especial 
care  should  be  taken  to  avoid  the  glare  of  too  much 
light  upon  the  desks  and  the  blackboards.  When  there 
are  windows  in  front  that  the  children  must  face,  these 
should  be  heavily  shaded. 

A  front  light  is  worse  than  a  cross-light.  Both  front 
fight  and  cross-lights  cause  eye-strain,  headaches,  and 
nervous  ill-health — even  in  country  children.  Some- 
times, the  boy  "doesn't  like  school,"  not  knowing  why, 
when  the  real  fault  is  not  in  himself  but  in  the  lighting 
of  the  room. 

Even  in  country  districts,  a  tactful  teacher  can  some- 
times persuade  the  conrnaittee  or  board  to  close  up  badly 
located  windows  and  to  open  better  ones. 

(c)  Toilet  necessaries.  The  good  teacher  knows  that 
younger  persons  require  to  visit  the  toilet  at  more  fre- 

'  Especial  attention  may  be  called  to  Tennessee  and  to  New  Jersey, 
but  many  other  States  also  are  now  alive  to  the  situation. 

249 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

quent  intervals  than  do  adults,  and  should  take  such 
requests  as  a  matter  of  course.  Any  comment  or  even 
look  of  disapproval  is  entirely  unbecoming.  To  the  in- 
telligent, it  displays  gross  ignorance. 

It  is  a  disgraceful  fact  that  the  toilet  accommodations 
of  many  schools  are  still  inadequate  or  unclean  or  crim- 
inal for  want  of  total  separation  of  the  provision  for  the 
sexes,  by  high  brick  walls  or  remoteness  and  seclusion  from 
one  another.  The  young  woman  teacher  who  finds  her 
school  improperly  cared  for  in  this  matter  should  prompt- 
ly, vigorously  and  persistently  keep  this  fact  before  the 
minds  of  the  mothers  of  her  pupils  until  there  is  com- 
plete reform.  When  she  cannot  get  hearing  and  support 
from  the  mothers,  she  should  appeal  to  some  physician 
or  minister  or  other  veteran  leader  among  the  men  of 
the  community. 

Failing  to  secure  reform,  the  teacher  should  find  a 
better  school  elsewhere.  Let  her  shake  off  the  dust 
of  her  feet  as  a  reproach  against  them.  Perhaps 
later,  the  rebuke  may  awake  the  conscience  of  that 
community,  as  acquiescence  would  certainly  soothe  its 
sleep. 

(d)  Temperature.  Recently  in  our  better  school- 
houses,  we  have  made  great  progress  in  heating  the 
rooms,  and  we  are  just  beginning  to  l^arn  how  to  keep 
the  air  properly  moist.  The  new  standard  is  this: 
Temperature,  65°  Fahrenheit;  humidity,  70  per  cent. 
The  art  of  moistening  the  air  shows  that  we  can  save  its 
cost  of  operation  because  air  at  65°  heat  and  70  per  cent, 
humidity  is  as  warm  to  the  body  as  75°  heat  and  30 
per  cent,  humidity.  This  economy  is  especially  worth 
while  in  climates  with  long  winters  where  the  outer  air 
often  drops  to  zero  and  to  a  condition  of  dryness  that 

250 


HOW   TO  MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

at  70°  Fahrenheit  becomes  but  10  per  cent,  humid- 
ity/ 

Children  Hving  many  hours  in  the  Sahara  Desert 
aridity  of  the  unmoistened,  heated  air  of  a  school-room 
become  peculiarly  liable  to  colds,  to  bronchitis,  and  to 
pneumonia. 

In  rural  schools  heated  by  stoves,  and  in  other  schools 
heated  by  hot  air  from  furnaces,  it  is  easy  enough  to 
moisten  the  air  by  keeping  a  pan  full  of  water  near  or 
upon  or  in  the  furnace.  Teachers  should  see  that  this 
is  done  by  the  janitor  or  do  it  themselves.  Where  steam- 
heat  is  employed,  the  problem  is  more  difficult.  The 
teacher's  own  health  requires  this  same  precaution. 

IX.  The  professional  visitor,  though  making  no  longer 
a  stay  than  a  half-hour,  will  notice  during  that  time  the 
written  work  of  the  pupils.  And  the  trained  and  ex- 
perienced teacher,  anticipating  such  visits,  will  make 
and  keep  collections  of  the  written  work  in  several  sub- 
jects and  of  the  drawings  and  products  of  the  class 
manual  work.  A  file  of  forty  arithmetic  papers  upon 
the  same  topic  tells  more  than  one  story — e.g.:  1.  It 
shows  the  proficiency  of  the  pupils  in  the  arithmetic  of 
their  grade.  2.  It  shows  how  hard  a  class  the  teacher 
has  in  hand,  for  when  at  the  beginning  of  a  term  some 
papers  are  good  and  yet  many  are  poor,  there  has  been 
an  unfortunate  grading,  or  when  at  the  ending  of  the 
term,  the  same  condition  is  discovered,  it  shows  that 
the  class  should  have  been  subdivided  into  sections, 
each  assigned  to  work  that  was  suitable  to  its  powers. 
When  all  the  papers  are  perfect  or  nearly  so,  the  work 
is  too  easy.  When  among  the  papers  are  those  last  on 
the  topic,  they  indicate  how  skilful  has  been  the  review- 

'  See  also  Ayres's  Open  Air  Schools. 
251 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

ing.  3.  The  file  of  papers  shows  the  handwriting 
standards  of  the  teacher,  and  his  or  her  requirements 
of  neatness  and  orderhness. 

X.  The  visitor  is  hkely  to  see  what  extra  reference 
and  general  books  the  teacher  has  at  hand  for  his  own 
use.  Every  grammar  and  high  school  class-room  needs 
an  unabridged  dictionary,  and  most  of  them  need  also 
a  complete  world's  atlas.  In  every  room  where  history 
and  geography  are  taught,  there  should  be  an  eighteen- 
inch  globe  of  the  earth.  These  rooms  also  need  geo- 
graphical maps  and  historical  charts. 

XI.  There  should  be  something  of  a  collection  of 
Nature-study  objects  and  of  scientific  and  technical  ob- 
jects,— in  short,  the  beginnings  at  least  of  a  school 
museum. 

XII.  Every  class-room  needs  a  small  library  of  books 
for  the  pupils'  own  uses.  Five  hundred  are  not  too 
many;  but  ten  or  twenty  are  better  than  none. 

XIII.  The  visitor  may  care  to  look  at  the  teacher's 
records  of  attendance  and  of  scholarship. 

XIV.  The  visitor  should  observe  the  clothes  and  shoes 
of  the  children, — to  see  whether  they  are  neat  and  clean.i 

^  In  several  elementary  schools,  I  have  seen  boys'  and  girls'  shoe- 
blacking  clubs — membership,  one  cent;  each  shine,  one  cent.  To 
keep  it  going,  there  have  been  two  pupil  inspectors  who  have  passed 
through  the  class-rooms  rapidly  each  morning.  They  have  said 
nothing;  but  every  Monday  at  assembly  exercises,  they  report  the 
number  each  day  of  boys  and  girls  in  each  room  who  made  an  un- 
satisfactory appearance.  Two  cards,  to  be  hung  outside  the  school- 
room door  for  a  week,  are  used,  one  reading,  "ROOM  No.  1  for  neat- 
ness," the  other  "ROOM  No.  1  for  improvement  in  neatness." 
Two  pupil  managers  take  care  of  the  blacking-stands.  Both  in- 
spectors and  managers  are  changed  every  week.  The  clubs  always 
show  a  profit  in  operation. 

Of  course,  in  actual  operation,  there  are  some  cases  requiring  tact 

252 


HOW   TO  MAKE   A   GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

The  foregoing  are  some  of  the  important  items  to 
which  the  visitor  of  experience  will  give  attention.  He 
who  calls  periodically  will  inquire  into  these  matters 
from  time  to  time  and  into  others  that  tell  him  about 
the  educational  process  that  is  or  should  be  going  for- 
ward in  the  room.  He  is  not  likely  ever  to  let  the  fore- 
going pass  entirely  out  of  his  mind,  for  he  needs  them 
in  helping  him  to  form  a  fair  judgment  upon  the  total 
of  a  teacher's  work  for  a  year.  These  other  and  more 
extended  inquiries  are  likely  to  concern  all  the  matters 
treated  in  such  a  book  as  this,  and  many  more.  They 
will  be  intensive, — he  will  consider  the  special  methods, 
devices,  personal  manners  of  the  teacher  with  reference 
to  the  exact  work  he  or  she  has  in  hand.  When  we  deal 
wisely,  we  deal  differently  with  first-grade  children  and 
with  second  grade,  with  first-year  high-school  youth 
and  with  second-year  youth.  Each  class  has  its  own 
problems.  His  inquiries  will  also  be  more  extensive 
than  they  can  be  in  a  single  visit, — extensive  in  two 
directions:  (1)  through  the  year,  its  progress  or  failure 
to  progress;  (2)  the  range  of  the  teacher's  influence 
with  the  class  and  in  the  school,  the  scholarship,  and 
the  community  relations. 

It  is  possible,  therefore,  to  make  but  a  few  suggestions. 

Practical  class  teachers  are  coming  now  to  see,  with 
all  modern  educational  philosophers  and  philosophical 
educators,  that  sense-training  is  of  great  importance. 

and  kindness;  but  this  is  true  of  everything  educational.  Free 
tickets  for  shines  are  given  to  those  pupils  who  cannot  pay  the  cent. 
One  result  has  been  that  thrifty  parents  have  required  their  children 
to  clean  their  shoes  at  home.  Perhaps  it  seems  a  trifling  matter; 
but  as  between  the  boy  whose  clothes  and  shoes  are  always  clean 
and  presentable  and  the  boy  who  looks  dirty  and  forlorn,  the  world 
usually  chooses  the  former  for  trial  at  its  work. 

253 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

A  good  teacher  is  likely  to  test  and  to  train  his  or  her 
children  in  ways  indicated  perhaps  as  follows — viz.: 

I.  Visualizing.  1.  Write  a  new  word  on  the  black- 
board. Erase.  Have  it  written  as  recalled.  2.  Write  a 
sentence.  3.  (In  higher  grades)  Write  a  stanza  of  verse, 
or  a  short  paragraph.  4.  Write  [-  ]  ''  for  example. 
Erase.     Ask  the  count.     5.  Draw  Q  I  I  [~]  S/ 

ZD  A  O  □    or    j^  o    t>   IZZl    i» 


or 


various  orders.  Erase.  Ask  for  reproduction  in  that 
order.  6.  Make  5"  x  8"  cards,  and  place  various  com- 
binations, as  8  +  11—  ;4x7=  ;  grape;  etc., 
upon  them.  Show  them  in  a  flash.  Ask  what  they 
were,  etc.  7.  Hold  an  object  up  for  a  moment.  Hide 
it.  Ask  children  to  name,  or  perhaps  to  draw  it. 
8.  Ask  number  of  windows  in  school-house. 

II.  Audition.  1.  Repeat  several  figures.  Ask  ver- 
batim repetition;  and  answer.  2.  Recite  a  verse. 
Ask  its  verbatim  repetition.  3.  Rap  on  a  desk  several 
times.  How  many?  4.  Rap,  rap,  pause,  rap,  pause, 
rap,  rap,  rap.  Ask  for  exact  repetition.  5.  Tell  a 
problem  story  in  arithmetic.     Ask  verbatim  repetition. 

III.  Memory.  1.  Let  one  cliild  go  about  the  room 
touching  (say)  ten  different  objects.  Let  others  try  to 
follow  exactly  from  memory.  2.  Teach  a  memory  gem, 
perhaps  in  concert.  See  who  know  it  accurately.  3. 
Write  on  the  blackboard  an  arithmetical  process,  a 
spelling  list,  etc.  Next  day,  ask  children  to  reproduce 
it  exactly.  4.  Ask  them  to  tell  about  pictures  in  their 
books,  with  the  books  shut.  5.  Get  historically  accurate 
reports  of  excursions  in  the  woods. 

IV.  Dramatizing.     1.  Tell  or  read  a  story,  and  let 

254 


HOW  TO  MAKE  A  GOOD   SCHOOL  AND   CLASS 

children  work  it  out.  This  is  especially  useful  in  his- 
tory and  literature.  2.  Dramatize  arithmetic  problems. 
3.  Make  Eskimo  villages,  etc.  4.  In  manual  training, 
build  things  like  real,  or  actually  real. 

I  have  seen  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  as  it  were,  made 
new  by  such  exercises  as  these  persisted  in  for  a  month. 
They  are  indeed  especially  useful  in  the  lower  primary 
and  upper  grammar  grades.  ^Vhen  the  middle  grades 
and  the  subadolescent  period  have  stultified  a  class  of 
boys  and  girls,  nothing  else  can  quicken  them  so  well  as 
renewed  sense-training. 

In  making  a  good  school  that  will  delight  parents  and 
pass  muster  under  the  inspection  of  critics,  there  are 
several  minor  methods  and  devices  not  to  be  ignored. 
One  is  to  make  for  each  class,  from  year  to  year,  to  sup- 
plement the  geography  work,  a  portfolio  to  hold  pictures, 
magazine  articles,  picture  postal  cards,  newspaper  clip- 
pings, well-made  pupils'  maps,  good  compositions  deal- 
ing with  the  lands  studied  (or  in  imagination  visited),  in 
that  grade.  In  but  a  few  years,  there  will  be  several 
portfolios  of  great  value  and  of  greater  interest  to  the 
pupils.  The  same  thing  can  be  done  in  history.  One 
class  emulates  its  predecessors.  From  this  enterprise, 
the  class  library  of  books  ^  also  grows  surprisingly.  The 
children's  interest  arouses  that  of  many  parents. 

The  folding  cabinets  to  display  the  work  of  the  pupils 
in  the  regular  subjects,  an  occasional  school  exhibition, 
a  school  or  class  newspaper,  written  or  printed,  and  an 
open  day  for  parents  are  devices  often  successful. 

Another  quickening  plan  is  seriously  to  undertake  as 
a  class  some  representative  enterprise,  as,  e.  g.,  in  Grade 

*  Many  States  contribute  funds  to  school  libraries,  duplicating  each 
dollar  raised  locally. 

255 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

III,  constructing  an  Indian  village,  to  illustrate  Long- 
fellow's "Hiawatha";  or  again,  e.  g.,  in  a  higher  grade, 
to  make  a  museum  collection  of  many  of  the  products 
or  manufactures  of  the  community  in  which  the  school 
is.  A  teacher  may  do  this  without  accepting  in  its  en- 
tirety "the  culture  epochs"  theory  of  education. 

The  good  teacher  will  make  much  of  the  English  work 
in  the  grade,  by  correlating  it  with  the  topics  of  the 
drawing,  geography,  history  and  reading,  with  written 
desk  and  blackboard  compositions  and  with  oral  re- 
productions. 

He  (or  she)  will  give  arithmetic  verisimilitude  by 
having  the  pupils  get  the  actually  prevailing  prices  and 
modes  of  trade  in  the  community  for  the  problem  work; 
by  having  the  pupils  invent  many  of  their  own  problems; 
and  by  dramatizing  some  of  them.  In  lower  grades,  a 
make-beheve  grocery  store  is  often  a  happy  device. 

The  spelling  should  be  taught  in  such  a  way  th?t  the 
pupils  know  the  use  of  each  word  in  context,  its  defini- 
tion, its  appearance  syllabicated  and  solid.  This  will  be 
taught  also  in  close  correlation  with  good  literature. 

But  it  is  not  within  the  range  of  this  treatment  to 
pursue  the  subject  of  special  method  whether  in  Latin 
or  in  geometry,  in  drawing  or  in  chemistry,  in  phonics  or 
in  sewing.  Each  deserves  a  book  by  itself;  and  indeed 
several  excellent  books  upon  various  subjects  are  already 
written. 

In  fine,  the  good  teacher  makes  the  good  class  by 
developing  its  self-activity  partly  through  interest, 
partly  by  his  own  example  of  fresh  knowledge,  of  a 
progressive  spirit,  and  of  genuine  enthusiasm. 


"Therefore,  that  which  is  to  have  true,  abiding  and  bless- 
ing, instructive  and  formative  effect  on  the  child  as  pupil 
and  scholar,  and  as  a  future  active  man, — independent 
employment — should  not  only  be  founded  on  life  as  it 
actually  appears,  should  not  only  be  connected  with  life, 
but  should  also  form  itself  in  harmony  with  the  require- 
ments of  life,  of  the  surroundings,  of  the  times  and  with 
what  these  offer.  It  should  especially  have  an  arousing  and 
wakening  effect  upon  the  inner  life  of  the  child  and  should 
thus  spontaneously  germinate  from  within  that  life." — 
Froebel,  Education  by  Development.     1836. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    CLASS    TEACHER    AND   THE    INDUSTRIAL   ARTS 

The  investment  of  one's  own  life. — The  extension  of  education. — 
Its  expansion. — Teachers  of  the  familiar  subjects. — Preparation  for 
the  new  subjects. — Agriculture. — The  mechanic  arts. — The  business 
arts. — Domestic  science. — Domestic  arts. — Principles  controlling 
social  action  in  reference  to  educational  progress. — -The  universal 
school. 

THE  relation  of  education  to  the  civilization  of  its 
times  is  always  reciprocal:  in  part,  it  causes  that 
civilization:  in  part,  it  is  the  effect.  Inevitably,  here 
in  America,  education  must  take  its  color  and  its  mood 
from  our  agricultural,  industrial,  social  and  domestic 
life.  Of  the  new  developments  in  education,  caused  by 
efforts  to  adjust  it  to  modern  American  conditions,  a  few 
may  be  suggested. 

1.  Higher  education  is  going  ever  higher.  The  uni- 
versity succeeds  the  college;  and  research  work  succeeds 
the  university.    There  is  no  limit. 

2.  Higher  education  is  constantly  increasing  in  the 
quantity  and  extent  of  its  expression.  High  schools 
have  doubled  in  the  past  ten  years.  Women's  colleges 
are  multiplying.  More  and  more  universities  are  being 
developed.  In  these  institutions,  the  courses  of  study 
are  growing  ever  more  numerous.  The  variety  of  sub- 
jects that  may  be  pursued  in  one  or  another  department 

18  259 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

of  a.  great  university  astonishes  even  those  who  keep 
in  touch  with  higher  education. 

3.  Lower  education  grows  in  the  enrolled  number  of 
pupils,  in  the  number  of  teachers,  in  the  number  of 
school  buildings  and  in  costs  so  fast  that  all  the  pre- 
dictions even  of  optimists  fall  short.  In  the  presence  of 
a  school  system  with  700,000  pupils  and  18,000  teachers, 
even  the  greatest  metropolitan  university  with  6000 
students  and  1000  teachers  seems  small  in  relative 
quantity.  Even  our  very  greatest  industrial  enterprises 
are  but  small  affairs  compared  with  the  greatest  of  our 
educational  institutions.  We  are  deceived  by  the  rela- 
tive incomes  of  university  presidents  and  of  city  school 
superintendents,  of  college  professors  and  of  school- 
teachers, when  cited  in  comparison  with  those  of  cor- 
poration presidents  and  of  railroad  managers,  of  factory 
heads  and  of  bank  cashiers  into  supposing — carelessly — 
that  education  is  the  least  serious  and  the  least  impor- 
tant of  our  social  enterprises.  But  consider:  there  are 
more  teachers  in  the  land  than  physicians,  lawyers, 
ministers  combined.  Our  schools  instruct  20,000,000 
youth  daily.  Of  every  one  hundred  of  our  population, 
twenty-four  go  to  school.  Of  our  adult  population, 
one  in  fifty  is  either  teaching  school  or  making  some- 
thing for  use  in  school-construction  or  equipment. 
Agriculture  and  railroading  are  the  only  occupations  re- 
quiring many  more  workers  than  education  requires. 
For  every  woman  now  teaching  school,  there  are  four 
other  women  formerly  teachers. 

This  educational  expansion  creates  a  demand  for  two 
kinds  of  teachers:  those  who  carry  on  the  familiar  sub- 
jects, and  those  who  are  able  to  teach  the  new  subjects. 
Here  and  there  in  our  country  enough  teachers  are 

260 


THE   CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

available,  but  in  most  regions  the  supply  is  less  than 
the  demand.  Like  every  demand  that  must  express 
itself  in  economic  terms,  it  registers  itself  at  a  price  that 
fluctuates,  of  course,  above  and  below  a  median  point  and 
that  varies  in  different  localities;  but  with  this  limitation, 
the  price  is  in  a  sense  "fixed"  and  the  demand  is  cer- 
tain. This  demand  is  for  teachers  who  know  what  and 
how  to  teach.  Being  unable  to  estimate  fairly  what 
constitutes  a  teacher,  the  public  registers  its  demand 
for  teachers  at  a  price  too  low  to  secure  an  adequate 
supply.  In  consequence,  taking  the  country  by  and 
large,  at  least  one-half  of  the  so-called  ''teachers"  are 
not  such  in  reality,  either  not  knowing  what  to  teach 
or  else  being  without  skill  in  teaching.  Also  in  conse- 
quence, one-fifth  of  the  persons  engaged  in  teaching 
drop  out  from  the  work  every  year.^ 

Not  one-third  and  scarcely  one-quarter  of  our  Ameri- 
can teachers  at  present  are  either  college  or  normal- 
school  graduates.  Such  is  the  minimum  standard  of 
fitness  for  teaching.  Whatever  be  the  price  offered  for 
teacliing  service  by  public  opinion,  the  social  demand 
is  for  really  qualified  teachers.  For  many  years  to 
come,  the  supply  will  be  inadequate. 

But  serious  as  the  situation  is  regarding  regular  or 
ordinary  teachers,  ready  to  carry  on  the  routine  work 
and  to  teach  the  familiar  subjects  of  education,  that  in 

'  Statistics  do  not  bear  out  the  assumption  that  women  who  cease 
to  teach  always  do  so  in  order  to  marry.  They  give  up  teaching 
(a)  to  help  in  the  homes  of  their  parents,  (6)  to  enter  other  occupa- 
tions, (c)  to  enjoy  leisure,  and  (d)  to  marry  (1)  because  they  find  the 
"pay"  too  small  to  warrant  the  labor  and  anxiety;  (2)  because 
"politics"  of  one  form  or  another  has  given  them  a  disagreeable  ex- 
perience; and  (3)  because  they  have  not  succeeded  sufficiently  well 
to  be  happy  in  the  work. 

201 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

respect  to  the  teachers  of  the  new  subjects  is  far  more 
serious.  These  relatively  new  subjects  in  secondary 
and  elementary  education  include  the  following — viz.: 

1.  Carpentry  and  other  wood-working/ 

2.  Mechanical  drawing/ 

3.  Forging  and  other  iron-working.^ 

4.  Machine  construction.^ 

5.  Plumbing  and  tinsmithing.^ 

6.  Harness-making  and  other  leather-working.^ 

7.  Agriculture  and  its  several  subdivisions.^ 

8.  The  commercial  branches.^ 

9.  Shorthand  and  typewriting.^ 

10.  Biology  and  the  other  natural  sciences.^ 

11.  Nature-study.^ 

12.  Gymnastics  and  other  physica'  culture.* 

13.  Sewing  and  dress-making.^ 

14.  Millinery.' 

15.  Cookery.' 

16.  Household  hygiene  and  sanitation.' 

17.  Health-inspection,  including  anthropometry.' 

18.  Feeble-mindedness.^ 

19.  Incorrigibility.^ 

20.  Physical  deficiencies.'' 

^  In  these  several  lines,  there  are  even  to  this  time,  despite  the 
fact  that  the  work  began  a  generation  ago,  only  a  few  teachers  who 
are  high-school  graduates,  pedagogically  trained,  speakers  of  good 
English,  and  apt  in  the  respective  specialty:  in  short,  colleagues  fit 
to  associate  with  and  to  share  in  the  education  of  youth  by  "the 
regular  teachers." 

^  Though  we  have  long  had  chemistry  and  physics  in  our  sec- 
ondary schools,  and  the  supply  of  such  teachers  is  fairly  satisfac- 
tory, teachers  of  the  natural  sciences  are  but  few.  But  for  the 
law  of  compensation  in  professions, — in  general,  the  same  return  to 
each  and  all, — the  salaries  of  tlie  teachers  of  the  natural  sciences 
would  be  much  higher  than  those  of  most  other  secondary  subjects. 
Many  high  schools  do  not  offer  these  subjects  because  good  teachers 

262 


THE   CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

The  extent  of  the  development  in  these  new  lines  of 
educational  endeavor  may  be  realized  when  we  note  that 
at  Tuskegee  Institute  over  seventy  different  trades  and 

cannot  be  secured — at  the  standard  salaries  of  teachers  of  the  older 
subjects. 

^  Here  is  a  subject  waiting  for  admission  to  the  elementary  schools 
via  the  supervisorship,  wliich  is  requisite  for  the  introduction  of  all 
new  subjects  and  for  the  maintenance  of  every  art.  But  there  are 
few  teachers  in  America  ready  to  assume  supervisorships  in  Nature- 
study.  For  the  theory  of  supervisorships,  see  Our  Schools:  Their  Ad- 
ministration and  S^lperv^sion,  Chapter  VII.  That  class  teachers  who 
will  fit  themselves  to  teach  Nature-study  in  their  own  grades  well  are 
likely  to  go  forward  rapidly  in  salary  is  known  to  every  observer. 

■•  So  rapid  is  the  progress  in  these  two  lines  that  it  escapes  the 
observation  of  most  of  those  who  work  in  them.  Calisthenics  is 
working  out  into  the  gymnasium,  into  the  athletic  field,  and  into  the 
school-yard.  Medical  inspection  is  working  into  the  school  from 
medicine  and  surgery,  and  it  is  to  stay  there  as  a  necessary  integral 
part  of  the  ordinary  school  routine.     See  pages  183-189. 

*  As  the  direct  outcome  of  better  health -inspection,  we  are  opening 
schools  and  classes  everywhere,  as  State  institutions,  as  county 
homes,  as  parts  of  our  city  school  systems,  for  children  and  youth 
who  are  feeble-minded,  imbecile  or  idiot.  It  may  be  to  some  a 
disagreeable  work;  but  it  is  in  direct  line  with  civilization,  which 
has  been  well  defined  by  Mitchell  in  his  Past  in  the  Present:  What 
Is  Civilization?  as  organized  endeavor  "by  man  in  society  against 
Nature  to  prevent  her  from  putting  into  execution  in  his  case  her 
law  of  Natural  Selection.  The  measure  of  success  attained  ...  is 
the  measure  of  each  civilization"  (page  187).  To  others,  it  is  a  rare 
privilege.     At  any  rate,  it  is  a  field  where  the  laborers  are  few. 

« In  all  parts  of  the  land,  our  cities  and  towns  are  establishing 
classes  into  which  are  collected  the  children  who  will  not  or  cannot 
"behave."  For  them,  teachers  are  required  of  unusual  gifts  and 
preparation.  During  my  term  as  superintendent  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  twenty-four  such  classes  were  established.  Competent 
teachers  are  too  few.  See  Our  City  Schools:  Their  Direction  and 
Management,  Chapter  VII. 

'  These  include  blindness,  deafness,  crippledness,  and  many  other 
sorrows.  Each  kind  of  defective  requires  a  specially  trained  teacher. 
High  talents  and  fine  characters  are  often  discovered  by  the  expert 
teacher.     It  is  a  beautiful  and  a  happy  work. 

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CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

crafts  are  taught,  and  at  Hampden  some  forty.  Nearly 
every  great  city  now  has  one  or  more  meclianic  arts 
high  schools.  The  movement  that  began  (perhaps  we 
may  say)  with  Pratt  Institute  in  New  York  (Brooklyn) 
in  1888  is  certain  to  go  on  expanding,  because  we  have 
come  to  learn  that  though  instruction  in  a  livelihood  is 
not  a  complete  education,  there  is  no  education  that 
does  not  include  as  part  and  parcel  of  its  course  in- 
struction in  at  least  one  livelihood  to  the  point  of  the 
economic  standard  of  fitness  in  its  art  or  craft.*  There 
are  some  twelve  hundred  different  standard  occupations 
followed  by  the  men  and  women  of  our  land.  Of  these, 
of  course,  by  far  the  most  important  are  those  con- 
cerned in  agriculture.  That  our  high  schools  should 
teach  these  five  subjects  in  their  elements, — viz.,  agri- 
culture,^ metallurgy,  business,  garment  -  making,  the 
household  arts, — is  a  proposition  no  longer  seriously 
challenged:  it  has  become  an  educational  principle. 
Our  case  now  involves  but  two  more  stages, — getting 
the  money, ^  and  preparing  the  teachers.  Strange  as  it 
may  seem,  it  appears  that  the  first  lags  upon  the  delay 
of  the  second.  We  have  at  last  the  inspiration  to 
educate  our  people  for  social  efficiency,  which  is  one 
element  of  a  sound  public  morality,  and  we  have  the 

^  See  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals  and  Valuesin  Education,  Chapter 
XII,  "Efficiency,"  and  Chapter  XV,  "Art." 

^  Abraham  Lincoln  changed  the  whole  situation  in  America  in  re- 
spect to  agricultural  education  by  signing  the  bill  to  establish  agri- 
cultural colleges  in  all  the  States.  In  his  administration,  James 
Buchanan  had  vetoed  a  similar  bill. 

^  To  those  who  desire  a  convincing  argimient,  I  commend  Eliot's 
More  Money  for  the  Public  School;  and  to  those  who  desire  to  know 
what  is  actually  being  done  now  in  the  way  of  preparing  teachers, 
I  suggest  investigation  of  the  Teachers'  College  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, New  York  City. 

264 


THE   CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

philosophy  to  justify  and  bulwark  the  inspiration.  What 
we  need  are  the  men  and  the  disposition  to  deliver  the 
means.  For  in  truth,  we  have  the  means.  We  now 
have  an  economic  civilization  that  produces  surplus 
wealth.'  We  have  $120,000,000,000  of  wealth  for 
90,000,000  people,  more  or  less.  There  is  an  ample 
surplus  for  all  our  educational  needs,  of  which  to-day 
the  greatest  are  these  here  cited, — the  school  courses 
and  the  teachers. 

It  remains  at  this  final  stage  of  the  treatment  of  the 
present  subject  to  consider  something  of  the  methods  of 
teaching  these  several  subjects,  generally  considered,  of 
which  each  one  includes  many  branches. 

Agriculture.  This  includes  chemistry  of  the  soil, 
drainage,  irrigation  and  rainfall,  climate  and  weather, 
preparation  of  the  soil,  fertilizing,  the  seeds  of  the  many 
various  kinds  of  plants,  seed-raising,  storing,  testing, 
and  distribution,  cultivation  of  the  soil,  harvesting, 
crop-storing,  rotation  of  crops,  orchards,  small  fruits, 
cereals,  vegetables,  flowers,  shrubs,  horses,  cattle,  sheep, 
swine,  poultry,  stock-breeding,  birds,  feeding,  ensilage, 
farm  machines,  tools  and  implements,  butter  and  cheese 
making,  barns,  stables,  hot-houses,  winter  frames, 
poultry-houses,  and  other  buildings,  the  employment 
of  labor,  marketing,  bookkeeping,  farm  periodicals,  ex- 
periment stations,  veterinary  medicine:  in  short,  an 
entire  system  of  life  with  its  essential  arts,  crafts,  and 
applied  sciences.  And  yet  this  system  lends  itself  of 
necessity  to  pedagogical  methods.  It  is  a  system  to 
which  an  introduction  may  be  afforded  by  a  single 
teacher  in  but  a  year's  course  of  a  lecture  hour  and  a 
laboratory  hour  daily;  and  it  is  a  system  that  a  student 

*  See  Patten's  New  Basis  of  Civilization. 
265 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

may  well  pursue  for  half  a  dozen  years  in  a  secondary 
school  followed  by  an  agricultural  college. 

Each  topic  in  agricultural  instruction  has  its  own 
typically  indicated  method.  Some  topics  should  be 
taught  inductively;  others  deductively;  others  by  ex- 
emplification exercises;  still  others  in  the  scientific 
laboratory.  Characteristically,  agriculture  is  an  ap- 
plied science  while  farming  and  gardening  are  arts.  One 
learns  to  plough  by  being  shown  how,  by  being  directed 
while  trying,  by  trying  independently,  and  then  by  prac- 
tise with  a  critic  and  without.  One  learns  what  fertilizer 
or  reducing  chemical  or  new  constituent, — sand,  clay, 
lime,  phosphate, — to  use  upon  a  given  soil  partly 
by  physical  and  chemical  tests  scientifically  made, 
partly  by  experimentation  outdoors.  In  this  stage 
of  our  knowledge  of  agriculture,  one  is  taught 
deductively  the  principles  of  rotation  of  crops.  We 
shall  make  great  progress  in  the  teaching  of  agriculture 
as  soon  as  our  practice  in  its  instruction  has  been  cleared 
up  by  due  consideration  of  the  principles  and  methods 
applicable  to  its  several  branches.  Empiricism  must 
give  way  to  scientific  method  in  agriculture  as  it  already 
has  given  way  in  so  many  other  fields  of  education. 

As  manual  training  in  the  elementary  schools  is  the 
key  to  the  mechanic  arts  in  the  high  school,  so  garden- 
ing is  the  key  to  the  agricultural  arts.  As  manual  train- 
ing has  its  allies  in  drawing  and  in  physical  culture,  so 
gardening  has  its  allies  in  Nature-study  and  in  element- 
ary science.  And  as  manual  training  has  come  into  our 
elementary  schools  through  the  special  teacher  and 
supervisor,  so  gardening  is  coming  in  through  the  special- 
ist. We  should  not  expect  the  "regular  class  teacher" 
to  "  know  everything."     Upon  consideration  of  the  mat- 

266 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND  INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

ter,  we  should  never  have  expected  one  woman  to  teach 
each  day  to  forty-five  or  fifty  boys  and  girls  all  that  they 
have  the  power  to  learn  that  day.  We  are  bravely  out- 
growing the  notion  that  a  school  with  fifteen  classes 
needs  but  fifteen  teachers  and  one  with  sixty  classes 
but  sixty  teachers.  •  It  took  the  South  a  long  time  to 
learn  that  a  principal  who  ''merely  supervises"  is  re- 
quired in  every  school-house  with  over  three  or  four 
hundred  pupils.^  We  are  now  organizing  our  larger 
schools  with  principals  and  principals'  clerks,  heads  of 
departments  for  every  twenty  classes,  special  teachers 
of  drawing,  manual  training,  sewing,  physical  culture, 
the  incorrigibles,  the  defectives.  Several  cities  already 
have  put  into  each  of  their  schools  a  teacher  whose 
main  business  is  to  go  about  helping  individuals  who 
are  lagging  behind:  she  helps  them  to  pick  up  "dropped 
stitches,"  and  she  saves  many  of  them  from  demotions. 
Gardening,  as  a  school  subject,  has  its  typical  lesson 
method.  In  order  to  teach  it  properly,  there  are  re- 
quired (1)  boxes  of  soil  for  seeding;  (2)  seeds  of  various 
kinds;  (3)  such  tools  for  indoor  and  outdoor  use  as 
spades,  trowels,  rakes,  hoes,  all  of  small  sizes  for  the 
pupils  and  a  full-size  set  for  the  teacher;^  (4)  sunlighted 
grounds  of  sufficient  size  to  give  at  least  a  plot  4'  x  8' 
to  each  pair  of  pupils;  ^  (5)  such  fertilizers  and  chemicals 

*  See  Our  Schools,  page  178;  Our  City  Schools,  page  33. 

^  For  a  Grade  IV  class  of  forty-five  pupils,  the  outfit  should  not  cost 
over  $10,  and  the  current  cost  for  operating  its  garden  should  not  be 
over  $4.50 — that  is,  10  cents  per  capita.  The  vegetable  crops,  such 
as  squash,  lettuce,  tomatoes,  potatoes,  should  make  a  profit;  but  the 
class  should  grow  also  wheat,  corn,  strawberries,  blackberries,  and 
the  familiar  flowers  such  as  geraniums,  nasturtiums,  dandelions, 
roses,  lilies  of  the  valley. 

^  A  maximum  plot  for  one  boy  ten  years  old  is  6'  x  16'.  Anything 
larger  than  this  intensively  cultivated  will  discourage  him  as  a 

2G7 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

as  are  indicated  by  the  physical  and  chemical  condition 
of  the  soil  and  by  the  needs  of  the  crops  to  be  grown; 
(6)  water  conveniently  accessible;  (7)  a  teacher  who 
knows  and  loves  growing  things,  which  are  mysterious 
kinds  of  silent  intelligences  and  sympathies;  (8)  ten 
minutes  of  time  daily  all  the  year,  and  an  hour  each 
week  during  the  planting  and  growing  season. 

The  term  of  a  course  in  gardening  is  usually  the  dura- 
tion of  the  process  from  breaking  up  the  ground  for 
seeding  to  clearing  it  up  after  the  harvest;  in  practice, 
we  break  up  the  course  into  topics,  lessons,  and  ex- 
ercises.   This  may  be  illustrated  in  the  case  of  lettuce. 

Topic  1.  Telling  about  lettuce,  showing  the  seeds,  and 
pictures  or  drawings  of  the  plant. 

Exercise  1.  Spading  the  gardens. 

Topic  2.  Telling  about  soil  preparation,  including  fer- 
tilizers. 

Exercise  2.  Preparing  the  window-boxes  or  the  seedling 
grounds  outdoors  for  growing  the  seedlings. 

Exercise  3.  Getting  the  soil  of  the  garden  ready  for  the 
seedlings. 

Exercise  4.  Planting  the  seeds  in  the  boxes  (or  in  the 
seeding-plot). 

Topic  3.  Teaching  the  history  of  the  plant  growth. 

Exercise  5.  Watering  and  caring  for  the  seeds  and  the 
shoots,  including  thinning  out. 

Exercise  5.  Transplanting. 

school  exercise  under  a  teacher's  direction.  The  teacher  may  have  a 
class  plot  in  his  charge  upon  which  he  is  to  be  helped  by  his  pupils, 
almost  any  area,  even  as  much  as  a  quarter-acre.  This  is  to  assume 
that  the  class  teacher  helps  the  specialist,  or  does  the  work,  or  that  a 
rural  school  is  under  consideration.  The  most  common  mistake 
in  installing  gardening  in  our  schools  at  present  is  trying  to  do  too 
much  at  the  beginning. 

268 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

Exercise  6.  Cultivation  through  the  season  of  growth. 

Topic  4.  The  chemistry  of  growth  in  an  elementary  way, 
including  sunlight  and  chlorophyl. 

Exercise  5.  Gathering  the  first  large  plants  and  washing 
them  for  use:  then  the  next,  etc. 

Topic  5.  Weeds. 

Exercise  6.  Clearing  the  ground  for  another  season  or 
another  crop. 

Topic  6.  Rotation  of  garden  crops. 

Of  course,  only  a  part  of  the  grounds  will  be  given 
over  to  lettuce ;  and  w^hile  this  course  is  going  on,  there 
will  be  others  for  beets,  strawberries,  and  whatever  else 
is  to  be  grown.  It  is  desirable  to  include  the  two  and 
three  year  plants  like  strawberries  and  blackberries  in 
order  to  teach  foresight  and  carefulness. 

In  our  city  school  systems,  we  have  now  supervisors 
of  drawing,  of  music,  of  manual  training,  of  penmanship, 
of  reading,  of  Nature-study,  of  the  classes  for  defectives 
and  incorrigibles,  and  in  one  instance, — the  District  of 
Columbia, — of  gardening,  and  even  consulting  psychol- 
ogists with  their  assistants.  In  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, there  are  over  one  hundred  of  such  specialists. 
New  York  City  has  an  equal  proportion,  and  more  wisely 
apportioned  among  the  subjects.  Similar  developments 
are  appearing  in  hundreds  of  towns  and  cities.  It  might 
be  considered  invidious  to  mention  any  of  them  by 
name  lest  others  equally  meritorious  appear  to  be  neg- 
lected. But  while  hundreds  of  communities  are  pro- 
gressive, other  hundreds  are  not;  and  some  are  actually 
opposed  to  the  notion  that  boys  and  girls  can  get  better 
instruction  from  several  teachers  than  from  one.  This 
opposition  is  on  a  plane  with  the  notion  that  however 
large  a  family  a  mother  has,  she  needs  no  servant,  but 

269 


CLASS  TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

"ought  to  do  her  own  work."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
woman  teacher  who,  without  the  assistance  of  any  special 
supervisor,  teaches  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography, 
spelHng,  elementary  science,  and  manages  the  class  suc- 
cessfully, and  who,  with  the  assistance  of  special  super- 
visors, teaches  the  class  drawing,  reading,  writing, 
physical  culture,  and  sewing  well  may  properly  be  con- 
sidered an  industrious  and  useful  citizen,  even  though 
special  teachers  take  the  pupils  occasionally  for  in- 
struction in  manual  training,  in  cookery,  in  dress- 
making, and  in  gardening.  It  is  not  a  question  whether 
the  teacher  has  enough  work  to  do  so  as  not  to  be  idling 
about:  it  is  solely  a  cjuestion  of  the  good  of  the  pupils 
and  of  the  ultimate  welfare  of  our  country  through  an 
intelligent,  efficient,  and  moral  citizenship.^ 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that  there  is  no  use  in  teach- 
ing agriculture  in  city  schools.  If  by  teaching  agri- 
culture any  city  boys  and  girls  can  be  induced  to  go 
out  into  the  country  and  to  live  upon  the  bounty  of 
Nature,  that  will  be  a  blessing  to  them.  The  telephone 
and  the  mail  have  done  away  with  country  isolation. 
The  prices  of  farm,  garden,  and  orchard  products 
show  that  we  have  not  enough  farmers,  gardeners,  and 

^  I  met  the  argument  in  its  crudest  form  when  a  board  discharged 
one  of  three  special  supervisors,  asserting  that -"when  she  goes  into 
the  rooms,  the  teachers  sit  around  doing  nothing.  We  don't  pay 
for  loafing.     We  want  the  teachers  to  work."     When  I  asked  why 

the  other  two  were  retained,  the  leader  replied,  "Miss  G was  born 

here,  and  has  some  rights."     "And  as  to  Mr.  L ?"  I  asked.     The 

reply  was,  "  He  votes."  The  discharged  specialist  was  "a  transient " 
and  "only  a  woman."  But  underneath  all  the  apparent  situation 
was  the  fundamental  opinion  that,  beyond  the  one-grade  one-teacher 
complement  of  teachers,  all  other  teachers  are  "  extras."  It  is  child- 
ishly crude,  but  it  is  a  fact.  Some  class  teachers  themselves  cherish 
the  same  opinion. 

270 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

orchardists.  Life  on  a  good  farm  or  ranch  is  the  best 
life  in  the  world;  here  the  race  of  vigorous  humanity  is 
maintained;  here  men  and  women  learn  from  Nature 
how  in  patience  to  possess  their  souls;  here  self-reliant 
citizens  and  sympathetic  neighbors  are  reared.  Okla- 
homa did  well  to  put  into  her  State  Constitution  the 
provision  that  agriculture  shall  be  taught  forever  in  all 
her  schools,  urban  as  well  as  rural. 

The  one  problem  of  importance  in  respect  to  agricult- 
ural instruction  is  getting  the  teachers.  It  is  to-day 
the  greatest  field  in  practical  pedagogy,  for  like  every 
other  subject  taught  in  education,  agriculture  must  be 
analyzed  and  reduced  to  a  consistent  body  of  sciences, 
arts,  methods,  devices,  topics  in  due  order  and  relation. 
We  shall  need  many  kinds  of  text-books  and  many 
kinds  of  teachers.  Those  are  indeed  ignorant  of  history 
and  devoid  of  foresight  who  do  not  see  that  by  the  year 
2000  A.D.  self-support  on  farms  and  ranches  will  be  the 
mode  of  livelihood  of  a  hundred  million  people  in  the 
rich  Mississippi  Valley,  in  irrigated  regions  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  in  drained  regions  of  our  Gulf  Coast. 
We  are  on  the  edge  of  new  times.  A  shortage  of  food- 
supplies  is  upon  us  and  will  force  us  back  to  the  ancestral 
wholesome  outdoor  life  of  farmer,  gardener,  orchardist, 
forester,  shepherd,  and  cowherd.^  But  it  will  be  a  life  of 
social  relations  and  of  high  personal  intelligence,  for  the 
agriculturist  will  be  like  many  another  of  his  fellow- 
men  an  applied  scientist,  the  intellectual  product  of 
school  and  college  teachers. 

Mechanic  Arts.  Many  as  are  the  topics  visible  even 
at  present  in  the  relatively  new  science  and  art  of  agri- 

*  It  is,  however,  not  to  be  forgotten  that  part  of  this  shortage  is 
due  to  a  sinful  system  of  marketing  crops  from  producer  to  consumer. 

271 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

culture,  those  belonging  in  the  field  of  the  arts  and  crafts 
of  industrial  life  are  yet  many  times  more.  They  in- 
clude shoemaking  and  other  leather- working;  silk,  wool, 
cotton,  flax  textile  manufactures;  mining  of  coal,  iron, 
copper,  lead,  silver,  gold;  the  working  of  each  of  the 
metals,  including  jewelry,  steel,  bronze;  lumbering, 
furniture-making;  the  making  of  every  kind  of  instru- 
ment and  tool  and  machine,  from  a  water-power  turbine 
plant  to  a  watch;  printing  and  its  related  arts  of  book, 
magazine,  and  newspaper  manufacture;  construction  of 
buildings;  strength  of  materials;  stone-quarrying;  ce- 
ment-manufacture; road-making;  the  employment  of 
labor;   mechanic  arts  periodicals. 

As  gardening  is  the  type  of  all  farming,  so  carpentry 
is  the  type  of  all  mechanic  arts.  The  duration  of  a  gar- 
dening course  is  from  seeding  to  harvesting,  while  that 
for  carpentry  is  from  collecting  the  material  to  exhibit- 
ing the  finished  product.  The  agricultural  process  is 
longer  and  more  complicated,  more  subject  to  accidents 
beyond  control  and  to  errors  of  ignorance,  requires 
patience  and  faith  as  well  as  industry  and  intelligence; 
and  yet  the  chance  of  success  in  it  is  greater  for  the 
pupil-novice  than  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  mechanical 
process. 

The  typical  lesson  in  mechanic  arts  is  distinctly  one  of 
exemplification:  it  is  a  psychological  exercise.^  In  car- 
pentry or  bench  work  as  it  is  usually  taught  in  the  high- 
est grade  of  the  elementary  school,  nearly  all  lessons  are 
psychological  exercises.  The  few  exceptions  are  nearly 
all  of  them  of  a  deductive  nature.  In  all  arts,  we  learn 
from  example  and  emulative  endeavor. 

In  the  pursuit  of  mechanic  art  beyond  the  elementary 

*  See  pages  50-54. 
272 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

manual  training,  we  must  specialize  early  in  order  to 
acquire  the  technique  while  young  and  plastic.  The 
condition  of  the  American  mind  in  respect  to  mechanic 
arts  is  far  different  from  that  in  respect  to  agriculture: 
it  is  far  more  complete  in  its  knowledge,  more  exact, 
more  thorough,  more  advanced.  Scientific  method  in 
agriculture  is  in  the  making:  technical  method  in  the 
mechanic  arts  is  already  established.  In  them  we  have 
a  multitude  of  the  skilful;  and  applied  scientists  and 
scientific  inventors  abound.  In  the  use  of  the  mechanic 
arts  in  high  schools,  we  are  far  ahead  of  our  record  in 
agriculture.  And  yet  we  are  by  no  means  at  the  goal 
that  we  must  attain  in  order  to  realize  both  the  full 
natural  genius  of  our  people  and  a  sound  philosophy  of 
education.  We  need  more  teachers  of  manual  training 
and  of  all  the  arts  and  crafts  that  follow.  The  purpose 
of  manual  training  (which  is  a  very  general  and  discon- 
certingly vague  term  for  any  and  all  kinds  of  exercises 
whose  motive  is  tool-using  or  tool-learning)  is  such  or- 
ganic training  of  soul-and-body,  of  eye-brain-hand,  of 
ear-brain-hand,  of  efferent  nerves — conscious  ganglia — 
association  areas  and  plexuses — efferent  nerves — as  to 
furnish  the  youth  with  aptitude  for  and  interest  in 
mechanic  art.^ 

It  is  a  conservative  estimate  that  the  school  world 
could  absorb  within  one  year  ten  times  as  many  men 

1  To  illustrate  the  difficulty  of  getting  and  keeping  a  competent 
special  mechanic  art  teacher. — In  the  William  Mclvinley  High 
School,  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1906-7,  in  one  position  alone,  there 
were  five  different  teachers  and  yet  the  position  was  vacant  three 
months  in  the  ten  months  of  the  year.  Why?  As  soon  as  they 
were  appointed,  the  good  men  immediately  secured  better  positions 
(i.  e.,  higher  salaries)  in  practical  man  iactures,  and  the  others  failed 
promptly  for  want  of  proper  pedagogical  training. 

273 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

and  women  of  really  adequate  preparation  for  teachers 
of  the  mechanic  arts  as  will  offer  themselves  at  any  time 
for  half  a  dozen  years  to  come.  There  is  an  especial 
shortage  of  competent  supervisors  of  elementary  manual 
training.  "It  is  so  hard  to  get  a  really  good  man"  is 
the  conmion  saying  of  school  superintendents.  And 
without  good  men  at  the  current  prices  of  teachers'  ser- 
vices, we  camiot  extend  our  manual  and  mechanic  arts 
work.  We  are  indeed  in  "a  vicious  circle";  we  have 
too  few  teachers  and  too  few  graduates  who  may  return 
to  the  schools  as  additional  teachers.  But  the  pro- 
gressive tendency,  nevertheless,  is  fully  established;  and 
a  half-century  will  tell  a  surprising  story  not  of  less  lit- 
erary and  classical  liigh  schools  and  courses,  but  of  far 
more  technical  high  schools  and  of  technical  courses  in 
all  general  high  schools. 

Just  as  objection  is  made  to  teaching  agriculture  in 
city  schools  because  "we  don't  farm  in  cities,"  so  ob- 
jection is  made  to  teaching  mechanic  arts  in  rural  schools, 
elementary  and  secondary,  because  "factories  don't  grow 
upon  farms."  But  we  are  coming  into  an  age  when 
factories  will  grow  in  the  suburbs  of  cities,  and  when 
the  farm  boy  with  "the  mechanical  turn  of  mind"  (i.  e., 
of  the  muscular-motor  temperament  plus  an  energetic 
intellect)  will  have  a  fair  opportunity  in  a  near-by  cen- 
tralized high  school. 

Our  boys  and  girls  are  bom  in  city  and  in  country 
with  various  powers,  and  they  should  have  the  corre- 
sponding opportunities.  Not  all  who  are  born  in  the  city 
are  best  adapted  to  factories  and  stores  and  offices;  not 
all  who  are  born  in  the  country  are  best  adapted  to 
farms  and  gardens  and  orchards.  The  son  of  the  miner 
need  not  be  a  miner;  the  son  of  the  lawyer  need  not  be 

274 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

a  lawyer.  We  have  put  away  caste.  We  must  put 
away  regional  specialization.  It  is,  of  course,  to  some 
a  matter  of  indifference  what  they  do,  whether  teach 
school,  run  a  farm,  mine  coal  or  clerk  in  a  store;  and 
these  are  likely  to  do  all  things  indifferently  well  or  ill. 
Therefore,  we  need  to  open  to  all  the  gateways  to  all 
ordinary  opportunities, — that  is,  to  many  various  liveli- 
hoods. It  is  new  doctrine  quite  radical,  probably  revo- 
lutionary; but  it  has  two  hmitations,  not  the  boy  for 
the  sake  of  the  trade  but  the  trade  for  the  sake  of  the 
boy,  and  let  the  boy  (or  girl)  have,  first,  last  and  all  the 
time  between,  a  genuine,  broad,  optimistic  liberal  edu- 
cation. The  livelihood  is  incidental,  though  necessary; 
the  life  is  an  end-in-itself.  The  livelihood  is  a  means 
to  the  life. 

Business  or  the  Commercial  Arts.  These  include  arith- 
metic, penmanship,  EngHsh,  bookkeeping,  accounting, 
business  methods,  banking,  retailing,  wholesaling,  sales- 
manship, shorthand,  typewriting,  correspondence,  office 
files,  history  of  commerce,  commercial  geography,  ad- 
vertising, window-display,  clerking,  stock-taking,  stor- 
age, transportation,  auditing,  commercial  law,  science 
of  govermnent,  supervision  of  manufacturing,  political 
economy,  ethics,  real  estate,  stocks  and  bond,  commis- 
sions, life,  fire,  burglary  and  accident  insurance,  taxes, 
bonding  of  employes,  purchase  of  materials  and  of  sup- 
plies, commercial  agencies,  savings-banks,  employment 
of  labor,  commercial  publications. 

As  the  key  to  the  mechanic  arts  is  manual  training, 
and  to  agriculture  is  gardening,  so  the  key  to  the  busi- 
ness arts  is  bookkeeping.  We  may  begin  our  gardening 
with  the  ten-year-old  boys  and  girls,  and  our  manual 
training  with  twelve-year-old  pupils;    but  we  are  not 

19  275 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

likely  to  make  much  headway  in  bookkeeping  with  pupils 
under  sixteen  years  of  age.  For  it,  not  only  are  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  arithmetic  and  much  skill  in  it 
requisite,  but  there  is  requisite  also  a  considerable  de- 
velopment of  reasoning,  of  judgment,  and  of  general 
information.  Like  most  arts,  when  well  performed, 
bookkeeping  "looks  easy." 

A  lesson  in  bookkeeping  is  essentially  deductive  in  its 
character,  and  most  of  our  work  in  the  subject  is  at 
the  fourth  stage  of  the  deductive  lesson, — repetition 
and  drill. ^  But  after  the  mastery  of  bookkeeping  and 
associated  subjects,  the  business  arts  so  increase  in  va- 
riety and  in  number  that  in  their  lessons  the  use  of  every 
kind  of  pedagogical  method  is  indicated  in  one  or  more 
of  the  subjects  of  the  course;  e.  g.,  the  inductive  method 
in  the  history  of  commerce;  the  deductive  in  commercial 
law;  the  exemplification  method  in  typewriting;  and 
the  lecture  in  costs  of  materials  and  of  supplies. 

In  one  respect,  the  business  arts  may  be  ranked  higher 
than  either  agriculture  or  the  mechanic  arts.  A  failure 
in  their  practical  application  in  life  is,  in  a  sense,  more 
serious  than  a  failure  in  agriculture  or  the  mechanic  arts, 
for  business  deals  with  the  finished  goods  made  by  other 
persons  while  agriculture  and  manufacture  produce  the 
goods.  In  other  words,  business  deals  with  property  in 
the  course  of  its  exchange  for  other  property,  usually 
money,  while  agriculture  and  manufacture  create  the 
property.  Business  gets  the  merchandise  in  a  state  just 
preceding  its  consumption  or  other  use  by  customers.^ 

^  See  page  44,  above. 

^  Here  it  is  necessary  to  draw  a  sharp,  well-understood  distinction. 
Selling  a  wheat  crop  is  not  agriculture  but  business;  therefore,  a 
farmer  should  be  in  part  a  business  man  or  merchant.    Selling  shoes 

276 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

The  man  who  fails  in  raising  a  crop  on  his  farm  can 
bide  his  time  and  raise  another.  The  land  and  tools 
remain.  Only  the  seed  and  the  time  have  been  lost. 
The  mechanic  who  spoils  a  piece  of  steel  can  try- 
again.  But  the  incompetence  or  "hard  luck"  of  the 
merchant  eats  away  his  capital  fast  and  creates  dis- 
trust among  many  men.  He  stands  higher  up  in  the 
economic  structure.  His  purchases  are  orders  to  farm- 
ers and  manufacturers  and  control  them.  Hence,  the 
banker  is  highest  of  all  in  the  economic  scale,  for  his 
loans  govern  the  economic  life  of  a  community.  Upon 
the  extent  of  their  credit  with  him,  other  men  rise  and 
fall.  And  hence  again  business  courses  require  as  stu- 
dents older  youth  than  do  courses  in  even  mechanic 
arts  and  much  older  than  do  agricultural  courses;  for 
"good  judgment,"  which  involves  a  considerable  famili- 
arity with  affairs,  is  the  essence  of  business  success. 

All  the  foregoing  has  been  presented  "in  a  sense";  that 
is,  with  qualifications  which  now  appear.  Agriculture 
deals  with  Nature  outdoors;  mechanic  art  with  materials 
usually  indoors;  and  business  only  with  products.  A 
good  agriculturist  is  something  of  a  scientist  and  much 
of  a  Nature  student;  the  mechanic  must  be  something 
of  an  artist;  but  the  business  man  needs  only  the  more 
common,  the  fundamental  human  qualities.  Of  these, 
the  agriculturist  must  have  deeper  and  truer  relations 
with  and  insight  into  the  world  whence  man  has  issued 
and  by  which  he  is  supported  than  either  of  his  fellows; 
he  lives  the  largest  life,  the  most  natural  and  the  least 
artificial.  He  owes  to  both  the  mechanic  and  the  clerk 
much  charity.     And  the  good  teacher  of  any  of  these 

is  not  manufacture  but  business;  therefore,  the  manufacturer  must 
understand  merchandising. 

277 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

lines  should  bring  his  students  into  sincere  appreciation 
of  their  comparative  values  and  opportunities.  Life  on 
a  farm  is  in  itself  worth  while ;  life  in  a  manufactory  may 
be  worth  while;  but  handling  other  people's  products 
can  scarcely  in  itself  be  joyous. 

The  Domestic  Sciences  and  Arts  (garment-making  and 
householdry).  These  include  sewing,  tailoring,  dress- 
patterns,  cutting-and-fitting;  purchasing  materials  and 
supplies;  machine-sewing:  millinery;  babies'  clothes;  gar- 
ments (outer  and  under)  for  boys,  youth,  and  men,  and 
for  girls,  misses,  and  women;  cookery,  the  chemistry  of 
foods;  purchasing  meats,  vegetables,  and  other  pro- 
visions; refrigeration,  winter-storage;  household  sani- 
tation, house-cleaning,  purchase  of  furniture,  tableware, 
bed-linen;  heating,  airing,  lighting;  care  of  the  sick 
and  of  the  injured;  care  of  babies  and  children;  house- 
decoration;  employment  of  labor;  service  and  the  di- 
rection of  service;  fuel,  oil,  gas,  electricity;  plumbing; 
insect  pests;  rodents;  garbage;  household  waste;  ac- 
counts, bills,  auditing,  bank-accounts,  household  periodi- 
cals; home-making;  and  oversight  of  children's  games 
and  amusements. 

Here  we  have  five  elementary  key-subjects, — sewing, 
cooking,  nursing,  house-cleaning  and  planning.  Of  these, 
the  first  three  may  be  introduced  in  simple  forms  into 
the  elementary  school.  Most  of  the  others  are  well 
within  the  range  of  high-school  girls  when  taught  by 
competent  teachers. 

The  typical  lessons  in  sewing  and  cooking  are  essen- 
tially exercises  exemplified  by  the  teachers.  Nursing, 
however,  is  best  taught  by  the  use  of  lectures  illustrated 
partly  by  stereopticon  slides  or  by  other  pictures  and 
partly  by  going   through   some  of  the  processes  with 

278 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

models  simulating  illness  or  accident.  Fortunately  the 
advances  already  made  in  actual  practice  by  teachers 
of  the  domestic  sciences  ^  and  arts.  But  much  of  the 
ground  to  be  covered  in  these  fields  requires  informa- 
tional lectures  and  inductive  recitations. 

To  teach  these  domestic  sciences  and  arts  properly, 
we  shall  have  to  give  up  our  notion  that  though  married 
men  are  preferable  to  bachelors  as  superintendents,  as 
principals,  and  as  class  teachers,  unmarried  women  are 
preferable  to  mothers  in  any  and  all  educational  posi- 
tions. ''The  majority  of  our  teachers  of  boys  and  girls 
above  twelve  years  of  age  should  be  husbands  or  wives, 
fathers  or  mothers.  .  .  .  These  are  none  too  experienced, 
none  too  wise  to  manage  the  boys  and  girls  of  other 
parents."  ^  It  is  especially  true  in  these  subjects  that 
the  best  teachers  come  from  the  ranks  of  the  mothers, 
whether  wives  or  widows  matters  but  little.  The  cult 
of  celibacy  for  women  teachers  is  absurd  and  dangerous 
in  every  aspect;  but  it  is  a  wrong  to  our  girls  to  deprive 
them  here  of  unquestionably  the  best-equipped  teach- 
ers. Of  course,  our  teachers  of  the  domestic  sciences 
and  arts  must  be  pedagogically  trained,  but  the  inter- 
vention of  marriage  should  be  no  bar  anywhere.  It  no 
longer  is  in  New  York  City  or  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia (since  1906).  And  again,  of  course,  wives  and  widows 
are  not  to  be  preferred  necessarily  against  otherwise 
superior  teachers,  but  they  should  be  preferred,  "other 
things  being  equal,"  in  all  subjects  of  instruction  that 
concern  that  fundamental  and  sacred  institution,  the 
home. 

*  Cookery  is  a  "science"  according  to  the  peculiar  usage  now  pre- 
vailing in  this  general  department,  while  sewing  is  an  "art." 

^  A  Theory  of  Motives,  Ideals  and  Values  in  Education,  page  173. 

279 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

While  we  owe  to  the  exigencies  of  our  social  situation 
alike  the  inspiration  and  the  pressure  to  undertake  the 
greatly  increased  activities  of  the  modern  school,  we 
owe  to  the  kindergarten  movement  and  to  its  leaders 
the  pedagogy  of  the  new  education  in  the  earlier  years 
at  school,  in  which  these  activities  find  their  source. 
We  cannot  successfully  develop  domestic  science,  com- 
mercial art,  agriculture,  and  the  other  new  subjects  until 
we  have  in  our  primary  schools  both  psychological  exer- 
cises and  informational  studies.  The  school  arts  are 
not  enough  as  preparation  for  modern  life.  We  need 
also  the  self-expressive  activities,^  which  include  games 
and  plays;  construction  in  cardboard  and  other  ma- 
terials; weaving,  knotting,  braichng;  modelling  in  sand 
and  in  clay;  drawing;  painting  in  water-color  and  in 
ink;  dramatization  of  number  operations,  of  stories, 
and  of  pictures;  and  the  old  writing  on  paper  and  black- 
board as  well.  These  psychological  exercises  are  com- 
ing into  the  school  not  in  opposition  to  or  for  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  3  R's,  but  to  enlarge,  to  encircle,  to  confirm 
and  to  illuminate  them. 

In  the  same  way  the  new  informational  studies  are 
not  to  displace  reading,  but  to  develop  in  the  child 
motives  for  reading  and  apperceptive  masses  by  which 
to  interpret  the  printed  page.  Story-telling  comes  be- 
fore beginning  of  teaching  to  read,  and  yet  is  also  its 
finest  accompaniment,  because  by  it  the  ear  reinforces 
the  eye.     Let  us  therefore  daily  tell  stories, — true  ones 

*  We  are  indebted  to  Miss  Ada  Van  Stone  Harris,  Assistant  Su- 
perintendent of  Schools,  Rochester,  New  York,  both  for  the  phrase 
and  for  its  realization  in  practice  in  a  large  system  of  city  schools. 
An  "expressive  activity  "  is  a  "psychological  exercise."  For  the  psy- 
chology of  such  exercises  see  O'Shea's  Dynamic  Factors  in  Education. 

280 


THE  CLASS  TEACHER  AND   INDUSTRIAL  ARTS 

of  liistory,  of  biography,  of  everyday  life;  myths; 
poems;  even  fairy  stories  when  the  ethical  or  esthetic 
lesson  is  clear  and  apt.  And  let  us  have  Nature-study. 
Is  there  any  other  way  to  redeem  the  city  child  than  by 
the  way  of  Nature?  And  does  not  Nature-study  teach 
even  the  country  child  what  and  how  to  see  and  why 
things  are  as  they  are? 

In  our  new,  vast  enterprise  of  educational  expansion, 
several  principles  should  control  our  social  action.  So 
controlling  that  action,  they  will  serve  as  inducements 
to  draw  more  of  our  ablest  and  best  young  men  and 
women  into  the  work  of  professional  education. 

Of  these,  the  first  principle  is  that  education  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  preserve  from  generation  to  generation 
the  heritage  of  culture,  such  an  education  as  in  fact  does 
transmit  that  heritage  in  full. 

The  second  principle  is  that  the  true  motive  to  cause 
us  to  educate  our  youth  consists  in  our  love  for  them 
individually,  and  in  our  consequent  desire,  purpose,  in- 
tention, plan,  and  practice  of  educating  each  one  of  them 
to  the  full  of  his  (or  her)  powers,  to  the  end  that  each 
may  live  a  useful,  happy  and  successful  life. 

The  third  principle  is  that  in  a  great  and  complicated 
civilization,  we  set  apart  a  sufficient  number  of  suffi- 
ciently educated  persons  to  do  for  us  tliis  twofold 
work, — of  transmitting  culture  and  of  educating  youth 
thereby. 

The  fourth  principle  is  that  since,  in  the  final  analysis, 
there  is  no  difference  in  the  merit  of  individuals  and 
there  is  a  limitless  demand  of  humanity  for  the  best  in- 
dividuals that  can  be  produced,  we  should  educate  each 
to  the  reasonable  limits  of  his  powers  both  for  his  own 
sake  and  for  that  of  humanity. 

281 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

Therefore,  we  are  seeking  to  build  ''the  universal 
school"  coequal  with  the  universal  State  and  a  restored 
universal  Church,  each  mutually  dependent  upon  the 
other  and  yet  within  the  limits  of  organized  society  in- 
dependent of  one  another.  To  be  specific:  Our  school 
shall  be  as  separate  from  politics  as  from  ecclesiasticism, 
a  non-political  and  a  non-rehgious  social  institution,  the 
home  and  medium  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  liberal 
and  applied,  ultimate  and  mediate,  for  all  persons  of 
whatever  ages,  free  and  universal,  at  once  useful  and 
cultural,  because  aiming  to  educate  an  eternal  being 
whose  duty  nevertheless  is  in  this  present  world. 


"The  subject  that  involves  all  other  objects,  and  there 
fore  the  subject  in  which  the  education  of  every  one  should 
culminate,  is  the  theory  and  practice  of  education." — 
Herbert  Spencer,  Education.     1860. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    TEACHER'S   OWN   LIFE    IN  AN    AGE    OF    EDUCA- 
TIONAL  EXPANSION 

Relations  with  superior  officers. — Questions  usually  asked  of  can- 
didates for  positions. — Progress  in  scholarship. — One's  library. — 
Health. — Recreation. — Vacations. — Public,  private,  endowed,  and 
ecclesiastical  school  positions. — Elementary,  secondary,  and  higher 
positions. — Learning  some  of  the  lessons  of  life. 

HOW  to  invest  one's  life  is  a  question  that  many  of 
us  take  up  too  late  in  life  to  answer  freely.  When 
taken  up  too  early,  we  often  answer  it  unwisely.  A  cur- 
rent has  carried  most  of  us  into  whatever  social  river  we 
happen  to  be  in  now.  Education  is  such  a  social  river. 
Many  different  currents  bring  teachers  into  it.  For  those 
of  us  who  are  teachers  and  educators,  it  is  highly  im- 
portant to  feel  that  for  ourselves  no  other  work  could 
be  equally  delightful.    There  must  be  joy  in  the  working. 

There  is,  in  truth,  for  sincere  souls  a  matchless  oppor- 
tunity in  education  to  invest  one's  life  joyously  and 
profitably  as  concerns  the  things  that  really  count, — 
friendship,  social  service,  art  and  science,  self-develop- 
ment, freedom  from  strife  and  quarrel.  That  it  is 
pleasanter  to  associate  with  youth  and  with  children 
than  with  ambitious,  jealous,  pleasure-loving,  money- 
seeking,  disillusioned  adults,  most  of  them  discouraged, 
some  elated,  few  who  have  known  both  the  societies  of 
adults  and  of  j^outh  will  doubt. 

But  the  question  that  comes  to  the  man  or  woman 

285 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

who  is  already  a  teacher  and  who  may  be  a  teacher  of 
teachers  is  not  upon  the  desirabihty  or  upon  the  ad- 
visabihty  of  being  a  teacher:  it  is  rather  upon  how  to 
Uve  a  happy  and  a  useful  life  as  a  teacher. 

In  respect  to  this  matter,  I  venture  a  few  suggestions. 
For  the  first  consideration,  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that 
being  useful  is,  for  most  persons,  about  half  of  happi- 
ness. To  be  useful  is  to  be  able  and  willing  to  do  what 
society  needs  to  have  done.  The  rest  of  happiness  con- 
sists in  part  in  doing  what  in  itself  one  likes  to  do,  and 
in  part  in  being  where  one  likes  to  be,  and  for  the  rest 
in  getting  for  one's  industry  a  sufficient  return  to  go 
on  living  without  anxiety  for  the  morrow  for  one's 
self  and  one's  natural  dependents. 

For  the  second  consideration,  it  is  worth  while  to 
know  how  to  get  along  with  one's  "superiors,"  for  in 
"the  business  of  teaching,"  which  is  livelihood  by  social 
favor,  every  one  has  superiors.  The  hierarchy  of  a  city 
public  school  system  is  a  very  complicated  matter, — 
and  one  different  in  the  different  States  and  even  in  the 
different  cities  of  the  same  State.  In  the  Union  (City) 
District  of  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  it  is  as  follows — viz.: 

State  Constitution 

Governor  and  Legislature 

State  Board  of  Education 

Town  of  Norwalk  Meeting  (of  all  citizens) 

Town  Board  of  Estimate  and  Taxation 

Town  Board  of  School  Visitors 

Union  (City  of  South  Norwalk,  etc.)  District  Meeting 

X,  (of  all  citizens) 

Union  District  School  Committee 

District  (City)  Superintendent 

Principals  and  Supervisors 

Class  Teachers 

Pupils 

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THE   TEACHER'S   OWN    LIFE 

In  the  city  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  the  hierarchy  is 
quite  different — viz.: 

;  State  Constitution 

'  Governor  and  Legislature 

State  Board  of  Education 

State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 

State  Board  of  Examiners 

County  of  Passaic  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 

Mayor  of  the  City  of  Paterson 

Board  of  School  Estimate 

Board  of  Education 

Board  of  City  Examiners 

City  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 

Supervisors  and  Principals 

Class  Teachers 

Pupils 

For  practical  working  purposes,  in  Norwalk,  the  con- 
trol is  actually  in  the  hands  of  two  bodies — viz.,  the  town 
board  of  estimate  and  the  union  district  meeting;  in  Pat- 
erson, it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor,  for  he  appoints  the 
board  of  education  and  thereby  also  controls  the  board 
of  school  estimate.  I  use  these  cities  merely  as  examples. 
Young  teachers  and  teachers  who  have  seldom  been  out- 
side of  their  own  home-communities  have  very  strange 
notions  as  to  the  main  rulers  of  public  school  affairs. 

Compared  with  city  school  conditions,  how  simple  are 
those  of  the  rm'al  districts  in  many  States,  where  the 
teacher  in  actual  practice  needs  only  to  "get  on"  with 
the  chairman  of  a  small  school  committee!  When,  as 
in  New  Jersey,  the  tenure  of  an  experienced  teacher  is 
not  controlled  at  all  by  the  board  of  education  or  any 
other  school  authority  but  by  the  regular  law  courts, 

287 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 


1 


the  problem  of  the  relations  with  superiors  becomes  very 
simple.  It  consists  in  performing  one's  daily  duties,  in 
living  a  decent  and  moral  life,  and  in  being  polite  and 
kind  and  yet  self-respectful.  One  who  meets  these 
three  conditions  not  only  holds  office  until  retired  on 
municipal  or  State  pension  or  both,  but  is  likely  to  be 
happy. 

But  in  most  States,  how  to  get  along  with  one's  supe- 
riors is  a  matter  to  which  the  teacher  must  give  constant 
attention.  Even  so,  from  change  of  superiors  or  from 
their  caprice,  even  good  teachers  frecjucntly  must  give 
way  to  others.  In  such  a  state  of  affairs,  I  venture  but 
a  few  suggestions — viz.: 

1.  Be  courteous. 

2.  When  asked  to  do  wrong,  resign  or  make  open  war. 

3.  Obey  in  full  all  other  orders,  requests,  suggestions, 
even  whims  of  superiors. 

4.  Make  but  few  suggestions  to  them.  Make  those  few 
respectfully  but  clearly.  Do  not  be  disappointed  when  they 
are  not  heeded.     The  superior  may  have  yet  other  superiors. 

5.  Remember  that  you  yourself  may  be  in  error  and  try 
to  get  the  truth  about  yourself. 

6.  Assume  that  professional  superiors  know  more  than 
you  do  and  talk  to  them  freely  as  friends,  when  you  can; 
assume  that  lay  superiors  know  less,  know  too  little  to 
warrant  conveying  to  them  much  information  about  the 
school.  They  will  probably  consider  it  at  best  as  "school 
gossip,"  at  less  as  foolish,  at  worst  as  malicious,  even 
though  it  be  truthful  and  really  kind. 

7.  Remember  that  every  art  and  every  profession  is  es- 
sentially esoteric.  What  you  have  taken  years  to  learn,  the 
public  are  not  likely  to  grasp  in  a  few  sentences. 

8.  In  relation  to  all  others  than  your  children,  look  upon 
your  own  work  as  essentially  for  self-culture.     But  wprk 

288 


THE   TEACHER'S   OWN    LIFE 

for  the  children  unselfishly.  After  all,  the  public  supports 
you  at  their  expense  for  the  sake  of  their  children.  As  a 
teacher,  your  class  work  is  your  "reason  for  being." 

If  for  any  reason  you  desire  to  get  a  new  position  as 
a  teacher,  consider  for  what  kind  of  teacher  employers 
are  looking.  Here  are  a  few  examples  of  the  questions 
that  superintendents  ask  regarding  applicants  for  posi- 
tions and  that  boards  of  examiners  ask  regarding  appli- 
cants for  licenses.  They  serve  to  show  what  systematic 
observers  have  in  mind  when  they  are  "marking" 
teachers,  an  unpleasant  but  a  necessary  duty  when  one 
must  deal  wdth  many  teachers. 

These  questions  may  be  set  forth  under  various 
heads.  Perhaps  those  cited  here  are  as  useful  as  any 
others. 

Character.  1.  Has  the  teacher  a  good  moral  char- 
acter? 2.  Does  he  (or  she)  bear  an  unblemished  repu- 
tation in  the  community?  3.  Has  he  any  unfortunate 
qualities?  4.  What  is  liis  general  influence  in  the  com- 
munity? 5.  Does  he  take  any  interest  in  the  general 
welfare  (a)  of  the  school?  (6)  of  the  community?  6.  Is 
he  (a)  reliable?  (6)  patient?  (c)  courteous?  (d)  indus- 
trious? (e)  fond  of  his  pupils?  7.  What  do  the  parents 
think  of  him  (or  her)  ? 

Scholarship.  1.  Has  the  teacher  thorough  general 
scholarship?  2.  Has  he  had  adequate  prof essional  train- 
ing? 3.  If  not,  what  is  the  nature  of  liis  deficiency? 
4.  Is  he  progressive?  5.  Does  he  stimulate  liis  pupils 
to  study  by  reason  of  his  own  example?  6.  Is  he 
studious  now?  7.  Has  he  any  special  proficiency  (a)  in 
music,  (6)  in  drawing,  (c)  in  manual  work,  (d)  in  any 
other  craft,  art  or  applied  science?    8.  Has  he  a  good 

289 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

stock  of  general  information?  9.  Is  he  discriminat- 
ing and  judicious  in  his  comments  upon  current  affairs? 
10.  Does  he  speak  good  EngHsh?  11.  Has  he  abihty 
to  write  well?  12.  Can  he  interest  his  pupils  in  his 
narratives  and  descriptions? 

Instruction.  1.  Does  he  teach  essentials?  2.  If  not, 
what  inessentials  does  he  tend  to  magnify?  3.  Do  his 
pupils  acquire  good  habits?  4.  If  not,  why  not? 
5.  Does  he  use  appropriate  methods  in  giving  instruc- 
tion in  each  of  his  several  subjects?  6.  Does  he  corre- 
late topics  capable  of  such  association?  7.  Does  he 
employ  modern  devices?  8.  Is  he  improving  in  the 
technique  of  instruction?  9.  Does  he  plan  his  work, 
and  pursue  a  suitable  daily  program?  10.  Does  he  use 
a  due  amount  of  review  and  of  drill?  11.  Is  he  earnest 
in  liis  work  as  an  instructor?  12.  Does  he  visit  other 
teachers  to  observe  their  methods?  13.  Is  he  over- 
inclined  to  new  devices? — Is  he  a  routinist?  Or  does 
he  follow  a  golden  mean?  14.  Does  he  neglect  de- 
tails? 15.  Are  his  tests  and  examinations  thorough 
and  complete?  16.  Does  he  use  an  appropriate  amount 
of  written  work?  17.  Does  he  talk  himself  or  make  his 
pupils  talk  ?  18.  Has  he  the  power  to  make  his  pupils 
attend  to  and  carry  out  his  directions? 

Discipline.  1.  Does  he  get  and  keep  order?  2.  By 
what  methods  and  means?  3.  Does  he  give  sufficient 
attention  (a)  to  the  general  management  of  his  class? 
(6)  of  the  cUscipline  of  individuals?  4.  Is  he  interested 
in  the  conduct  of  his  pupils  outside  of  his  class-room? 
5.  Does  he  cooperate  with  other  teachers  in  respect  to 
discipline? 

In  general.  1.  Does  he  (or  she)  visit  pupils  in  their 
homes?    2.  Does  he  attend  the  meetings  of  the  parents' 

290 


THE   TEACHER'S   OWN    LIFE 

association  or  other  similar  society?  3.  Is  he  an  agree- 
able and  helpful  colleague?  4.  Is  he  loyal  to  his  su- 
periors in  educational  office?  5.  Does  he  interest  him- 
self in  the  general  welfare  of  his  school  and  of  the  cause 
of  education  in  the  community?  6.  Is  his  health  ade- 
quate for  the  regular  performance  of  his  duties?  7.  Has 
he  travelled  widely?  8.  Has  he  a  pleasant  voice? 
9.  Does  he  question  well?  10.  Is  he  self-controlled? 
11.  Is  he  willing  to  accept  suggestions?  12.  Has  he  the 
ability  to  carry  out  suggestions?  13.  Does  he  see  what 
is  going  on  about  Mm  (a)  in  his  class-room?  (b)  else- 
where? 14.  Has  he  made  a  scientific  study  of  human 
nature  in  children  and  youth?  15.  Has  he  good  exec- 
utive ability?  16.  Do  liis  pupils  respect  and  admire 
him?  17.  (a)  Does  he  love  children  and  youth;  (6)  or  is 
he  engaged  in  teacliing  from  interest  in  the  subjects  that 
he  teaches;  (c)  or  does  his  interest  seem  temporary  and 
primarily  financial?  18.  Does  his  record  evince  apti- 
tude and  fitness  for  education?  19.  Is  he  social  or  soli- 
tary (a)  by  nature?  (6)  by  training  and  experience? 

Many  other  questions  indeed  are  asked.  Decisions 
for  and  against  applications  for  licenses  and  for  ap- 
pointments do  indeed  tiu-n  upon  the  answers  to  these 
other  questions — e.  g.,  height,  weight,  age,  sex,  religion, 
physical  defects,  prepossessing  personal  appearance, 
social  standing,  experiences  of  travel,  higher  education 
and  culture,  marriage,  children,  financial  condition;  but 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  final  success  or  failure  as  a  teacher 
depends  upon  the  progress  of  the  pupils  made  in  his  care. 

TTie  teacher  who  desires  to  do  better  work  year  after 

year  may  perhaps  profitably  consider  these  suggestions. 

Long  ago,  some  clever  man  declared,  "Beware  of  the 

man  of  one  book."    Select  a  few  good  books,  perhaps 

20  2a  1 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

but  one  or  two  a  year,  and  faithfully  master  them.  In 
our  profession-to-be,  there  are  as  yet  only  a  few  great 
books.  And  even  in  the  subjects  taught  in  our  second- 
ary and  elementary  schools,  the  literature  as  yet  is  not 
large.  Read  not  many  books  but  a  few  books  much 
and  well, — read  half  an  hour  every  day,  and  two  hours 
on  Saturday. 

For  the  rest  of  one's  scholarship,  take  one  or  two  good 
educational  periodicals  such  as  really  contain  material 
at  once  useful  and  interesting  in  one's  own  line. 

Every  teacher  needs  to  read  some  poetry  and  some 
fiction  for  mental  relaxation.  It  is  not  enough  to  get 
a  book  now  and  then  from  the  public  library.  One 
needs  a  library,  large  or  small,  at  one's  hand  at  home. 
Of  course,  what  the  library  contains  should  depend  upon 
one's  tastes  as  well  as  upon  one's  pocket-book.  My 
own  favorites  are  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Black- 
more's  Lorna  Doone,  Scott's  Ivanhoe,  George  Eliot's 
Middlemarch,  Victor  Hugo's  Les  Miserables,  Dickens's 
Bleak  House,  Thackeray's  Vanity  Fair,  Howells's 
A  Boy's  Toiun,  Stevenson's  Treasure  Island,  Kipling's 
Jungle  Books,  Cooper's  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  Bulwer 
Lytton's  Last  Days  of  Pompeii  for  novels, — each  of 
which  I  have  read  many  times, — and  for  poetry  Homer's 
Odyssey,  Dante's  Divina  Commedia,  and  Shakespeare's 
and  Lowell's  poems  generally.  I  read  more  poetry 
than  prose-fiction.  There  is  something  rather  conven- 
tional about  the  list,  I  know;  but  it  suits  my  needs, 
which  is  the  main  requirement  for  any  library. 

A  teacher  who  would  prosper  must  consider  the  mat- 
ter of  health.  Teaching  five  or  six  hours  daily  with 
duties  before  and  after  school  with  home-study  and 
lesson-preparation  is  hard  work,  as  the  death-rate  of 

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THE   TEACHER'S  OWN   LIFE 

teachers  shows.    Here  my  suggestions  again  are  simply 
presented,  not  urged — viz.: 

1.  Upon  coming  home  from  school,  wash  and  chill  the 
back  of  one's  neck  and  one's  face  with  cold  water  and  lie 
down  to  rest  the  spinal  system.  Take  a  nap  if  pos- 
sible. 

2.  Take  frequent  baths, — sponge,  shower,  or  tub,  hot, 
warm,  or  cold,  as  best  suits  one's  constitution  and  diathesis, 
— morning  or  night, — at  least  triweekly. 

3.  Five  nights  in  the  week  go  to  bed  early.  Physiolo- 
gists discriminate  eighteen  periodicities, — strength-fatigue 
rhythms.  Don't  expect  to  feel  well  at  11  a.m.,  at  4  p.m., 
or  from  11  p.m.  to  5  a.m. — the  dmrnal  triple  rhythm;  or  on 
Saturdays,  the  seven-days  rhythm;  or  for  one  week  in  every 
twenty-nine  days — the  moon-month  rhythm — whether  man 
or  woman,  but  especially  woman;  or  in  August  and  in 
April,  the  seasonal  double  rhythm;  or  if  a  man  of  English 
descent,  when  22,  30,  39-40,  54-56  years  of  age;  if  a 
woman,  at  19,  27,  36,  44-46  years  of  age.  (Every  human 
being  should  rest  every  seventh  year,  especially  women 
school-teachers  and  all  mothers.) 

4.  Respect  holidays  and  vacations  as  rest  and  recreation 
periods. 

5.  Eat  a  good  breakfast.  Get  up  early  and  exercise 
enough  to  do  this.  When  you  have  no  appetite  for  break- 
fast, see  your  doctor.  A  good  breakfast  means  hot  oat- 
meal and  a  mutton  chop,  or  the  full  equivalent.  Vary  the 
drinkables,  and  avoid  strong,  hot  coffee  daily:  it  ruins 
teaching.  (The  chief  effect  of  coffee  is  to  defy  the  daily 
triple  rhythm.) 

6.  Wear  clothes  just  warm  enough, — not  too  warm. 

7.  At  school,  wear  broad  shoes,  with  broad  low  heels,  and 
save  the  cervix  of  the  neck.  It  is  the  price  of  a  strong 
straight  back  ten  years  hence, 

293 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

8.  Walk  one  hour  daily  in  all  weathers  that  pemiit 
walking, — in  English  fashion,  from  the  hips  down,  not 
with  ankle  and  calf  only. 

9.  And  never  worry.  There  is  but  one  occasion  when 
one  may  properly  worry:  after  serious  sin.  Otherwise, 
never  worry.  For  most  of  our  "troubles,"  we  are  no  more 
responsible  than  for  the  clouds  and  for  the  drouths.  Worry 
otherwise  is  itself  a  sin. 


A  teacher's  vacation  is  a  precious  opportunity  either 
for  physical  rest  or  for  intellectual  refreshment  or  for 
both.  Unfortunately,  there  is  often  but  little  money 
left  over  for  vacations,  so  that  the  summers  must  be 
spent  less  profitably  than  the  teachers  themselves  wish. 
Many  teachers  take  up  some  economic  employment. 
Others  remain  at  home.  Still  others  search  out  the 
least  expensive  country  or  seaside  or  lake  resorts,  and 
there  try  to  rest  and  to  recuperate.  What  to  do  is 
always  a  personal  problem.  Some  teachers  cannot  be 
spared  from  their  homes.  Others  have  no  homes.  So 
many  accidents  and  other  unforeseen  events  occur  that 
an  all-the-year  economizing  in  order  to  have  a  good 
summer  vacation  often  eventuates  in  disappointment. 
Travel  is  indeed  good  for  most  persons  above  twenty 
years  of  age.  A  railroad  ticket  is  the  best  of  geog- 
raphies. And  yet  some  of  the  best  trips  I  have  ever 
made  I  never  did  make! — I  "read  up"  about  the 
region  or  country  to  be  visited,  but  in  the  end  I  could 
not  go.  But  so  much  as  this  is  sure — that  the  boys 
and  girls  of  my  youth,  now  upon  the  foothills  of  age, 
who  have  done  the  best  for  the  world  and  for  them- 
selves are,  in  nearly  all  instances,  those  who  have  spent 
their  holidays  and  vacations  wisely.    A  few  principles 

294 


THE   TEACHER'S   OWN    LIFE 

may  be  ventured  for  those  whose  vacations  are  meas- 
urably within  their  controh 

1.  Seek  a  change — of  climate,  of  scenes,  of  faces,  of  the 
daily  round. 

2.  Get  near  to  or  into  "Nature"; — the  woods,  the  fields, 
the  lakes,  the  sea,  the  mountains. 

3.  Plan  something  to  do — like  photography,  or  building 
a  boat,  or  painting  pictures — to  fill  in  when  there  is  nothing 
else  to  do. 

4.  Either  have  the  right  friends  with  you  or  proceed 
alone.^ 

5.  Do  not  undertake  too  much. 

Here  rises  "the  summer  school  question."  It  is  a  wise 
thing  to  go  to  a  well-located  summer  school  for  part  of  the 
summer, — provided  one  does  not  pursue  too  many  subjects 
daily. 

And  here  rises  that  other  wonderful  question, — the  trip 
to  Europe.  "Yes,  if  well,  and  not  too  long  a  trip,  covering 
too  many  places,  is  proposed." 

Often  one  who  has  had  some  experience  in  the  world 
of  education  is  asked  by  an  entrant, — "Is  it  best  to 
teach  in  high  or  elementary  school  or  to  seek  a  college 
position?"  "Is  it  best  to  teach  in  a  private,  an  en- 
dowed, a  public  or  an  ecclesiastical  school?"  These 
questions  cannot  be  answered  definitely,  for  two  rea- 
sons.    1.  We  cannot  foresee  the  change  in  American 

*  There  is  perhaps  no  one  other  reason  so  strong  as  to  why  some 
middle-aged  persons  do  not  improve  as  that  they  have  been  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  link  to  themselves  some  one  friend  like  themselves. 
With  that  friend,  they  spend  their  time  in  gossip,  in  regrets,  in  mut- 
ual admiration,  becoming  like  vampires  or  leeches  to  one  another. 
Have  two  friends,  or  three,  or  none.  Even  married  couples  who 
think  nothing  of  others  than  themselves  lose  their  power  of  growth. 

295 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

civilization  for  a  lifetime.  2.  Much  depends  upon  the 
person,  his  or  her  qualifications,  means,  etc.  It  is  a 
merely  personal  opinion,  and  offered  only  as  such,  that 
the  public  high  school  is  to-day  the  most  promising  of 
all  fields  of  educational  labor.  "Shall  I  teach  at  home 
or  begin  elsewhere?"  To  this,  there  is  one  general 
answer.     ''Begin  elsewhere." 

In  all  these  matters,  remember  that  there  are  always 
at  least  five  questions, — 1.  Personal  fitness  for  the  work 
proposed.  2.  The  associations  of  one's  life.  3.  The 
amount  of  service  to  be  rendered.  4.  The  salary. 
5.  The  cost  of  living. 

Teaching  is  an  intensely  practical  affair.  It  makes 
men  think, — makes  teacher,  pupils  and  the  world  think. 
Teaching  makes  thinkers.^  In  teaching,  the  teacher 
begets  thinkers.  And  thinking  sets  the  world  forward 
in  the  way  to  truth.  Thinking  is  intellectual  life. 
Thinking  is  the  soul  of  every  virtue,  the  method  of  ar- 
riving at  repentance  for  sin,  the  method  of  conversion, 
the  path  to  salvation.  The  teacher  must  think.  Unless 
he  thinks, — which  means  to  move,  to  observe,  to  re- 
flect, to  understand,  to  judge,  to  reason, — he  is  not  and 
cannot  be  a  teacher  in  fact.  The  preservation  (not  to 
say  the  progress)  of  civilization  depends  upon  teachers' 
really  being  thinkers  and  so  raising  up  generation  by 
generation  other  thinkers  to  take  the  place  of  those 
reaped  in  the  ceaseless  harvest  of  Death. 

For  every  civilization  is  the  expression  of  ideas,  the 
triumph  of  thought.  Teaching  is  not  parallel  with  or 
upon  the  same  plane  with  the  other  learned  professions. 
It  is  the  good  mother  of  them  all.     Teachers  make 

'  "The  most  practical  thing  in  the  world  is  to  make  a  man  think." — 
TirwiNG,  History  of  Higher  Education  in  America. 

296 


THE  TEACHER'S  OWN   LIFE 

ministers,  lawyers,  physicians,  surgeons,  dentists,  en- 
gineers, chemists,  authors,  journaHsts,  poets,  philoso- 
phers, professors,  superintendents,  inventors,  mechanics, 
farmers,  citizens.  Only  the  illiterate  manual  laborers 
escape  the  teacher.  Could  teachers  have  their  way 
with  the  young  and  keep  them  at  school  until  educated 
morally,  the  entire  supply  of  thieves,  forgers,  murderers, 
perjurers,  mahgners,  prostitutes,  gamblers,  paupers, 
and  all  other  enemies  of  mankind,  would  be  automat- 
ically cut  off.  But  are  all  educated  men  good?  Yes. 
Some  college  graduates  are  criminals?  No  doubt;  but 
pseudo-education  is  still  a  cult  in  some  quarters.  The 
true  education  leaves  in  the  heart  no  wiHingness  to 
wrong  one's  fellows  even  to  preserve  one's  own  life  or 
that  of  near  and  dear  ones. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  the  life  of  a  teacher  is 
narrow  and  circumscribed.  Even  harsher  criticism  of 
the  teacher  is  sometimes  indulged  in  by  those  who 
"speak  evil  of  things  they  understand  not."  ' 

Teachers  often  suffer  from  being  represented  falsely  to 
other  adults  by  children  and  youth  who,  of  course,  can- 
not comprehend  them.  And  these  other  adults  some- 
times take  the  very  praise  of  cliildren  and  youth  for  their 
teachers  as  evidence  that  the  teachers  are  of  but  child- 
ish natures.  The  very  idealism  of  the  teacher,  the  noble 
endeavor  to  preserve  the  good,  the  true  and  the  beauti- 
ful in  the  world  and  in  the  esteem  of  the  world  is  some- 
times made  to  appear  as  lack  of  common  sense.  But 
let  us  remember  both  that  the  nexus  of  our  social  life 
is  precisely  this  brotherly  kindness  and  charity  that  we 
teach  and  should  exemplify  and  that  the  efficient  mov- 
ing cause  of  progress  in  human  history  is  the  idealism, 

*  Peter,  Second  Epistle,  ii:  12. 
297 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

the  search  for  truth,  the  love  of  the  good,  the  true,  the 
beautiful  for  which  we  stand  and  forever  must  stand.* 

In  the  main,  teaching  is  a  delightful  service,  in  itself 
richly  worth  while,  a  privilege  beyond  any  other  privi- 
lege among  men.  Out  of  millions  of  homes,  they  send 
to  us  their  young,  their  best,  to  teach  them  almost  what 
we  will.  It  is  a  sacred  trust.  They  send  these  offspring 
of  their  own  bodies,  the  dearest  treasures  of  their  souls, 
to  us  in  a  serene  and  sometimes  thoughtless  confidence. 
All  the  more  should  we  do  for  them  our  best,  which  is 
our  duty.^ 

And  it  is  a  pleasant  thing  to  know  that  in  the  main 
the  class  teachers  of  America  are  cheerfully  doing  their 
full  duty. 

'  "Behold,  I  have  made  thy  face  strong  against  their  faces, — as  an 
adamant  harder  than  flint  liave  I  made  thy  forehead;  fear  them  not, 
neitlier  be  dismayed  at  their  looks,  though  they  be  a  rebellious 
house." — Ezekiel,  iii:  8-9. 

^  "  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report ; 
if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be  anj^  praise,  think  on  these 
things." — Paul,  Episte  to  the  Philivvians,  iv:8. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX    I 

AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO  ONE  WHO  IS  JUST  BEGINNING 
TO   TEACH 

You  are  one  of  one  hundred  thousand  new  teachers  here  in 
America  this  year  who  are  taking  the  places  of  those  dropping 
out.  The  average  experience  of  teachers  is  five  years.  You  are 
one  of  five  hundred  thousand  teachers  now  in  our  American 
schools  and  colleges.  You  will,  therefore,  probably  teach  five 
years.  Of  those  who  leave  the  work,  one  in  every  two  marries. 
The  other  one  is  lost  to  teaching,  sometimes  because  of  being 
needed  at  home,  sometimes  because  of  going  into  other  employ- 
ment, occasionally  because  of  a  legacy  or  other  inheritance,  often 
because  of  ill-health  that  never  permits  return;  in  some  instances, 
Death  calls.  Of  American  women,  one  in  one  hundred  is  now 
teaching  school  and  one  in  thirty  has  taught  school.  You  belong 
to  an  army  of  intelligence,  righteousness  and  good  will. 

As  a  teacher,  you  are  likely  to  be  successful.  Within  a  few 
years,  you  are  likely  to  feel  that  the  financial  rewards  of  teaching 
are  small,  the  labor  hard,  some  of  the  conditions  of  teaching  dis- 
agreeable, and  that  your  own  equipment  is  deficient.  Nearly  all 
teachers  go  through  this  awakening.  It  means  that  you  will  ha\'e 
discovered  how  important  the  work  of  teaching  is.  At  present, 
you  see  it  more  as  an  enterprise  for  your  own  sake.  Then  you 
will  see  it  in  its  true  light  of  a  social  service,  whose  nature  only 
-  experienced  teachers  and  other  enlightened  persons  really 
understand. 

In  this  book,  I  have  tried  to  display  something  of  the  spirit, 
of  the  mechanism,  and  of  the  conditions  of  class  teaching.  It  is 
a  book  primarily  for  young  teachers.  Youthful  enthusiasm  and 
zeal  and  health  go  far  to  supplement  deficiencies  of  knowledge 

299 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

and  of  technical  skill.  Twenty  years  hence,  you  will  be  a  good 
teacher  only  if  in  the  mean  time  you  have  acquired  knowledge 
and  skill  through  labor  and  thought. 

Be  patient  with  yourself.    Be  willing  to  go  forward  step  by  step . 

Do  not  expect  much  help  from  others:  development  is  from 
within. 

Aim  to  be  clear.  It  is  perhaps  the  greatest  beauty  in  true 
teaching.  Nature  avoids  confusions  and  is  discriminating,  as 
Comenius  showed  in  the  world's  first  book  of  pedagogy.  The 
Great  Didactic. 

If  you  have  official  superiors  who  are  professional  educators, 
recognize  the  chief  one  of  them  as  your  captain.  As  Doctor 
Albert  E.  Winship  says  so  eloquently  in  his  famous  lecture,  "The 
Accompanist,"  it  is  the  business  of  most  of  us  to  support  cheer- 
fully and  closely  the  soloist.  Society  is  organized  upon  that 
fashion. 

If  you  have  no  professional  educator  to  help  you  and  to  be 
helped  by  you  and  are  solely  responsible  for  your  own  work, 
cultivate  the  professional  relations  assiduously  by  reading  good 
educational  books  and  periodicals. 

When  you  grow  tired  and  discouraged,  or  if  disconcerted  by 
some  untoward  event,  perhaps  beyond  your  control,  or  if  you 
really  do  make  mistakes,  remember  that  all  of  us  survivors  from 
youthful  days  have  also  been  discouraged  and  tired  and  dis- 
concerted and  now  count  our  mistakes  not  on  our  fingers'  ends 
but  in  columns  and  relays  of  figures :  you  are  experiencing  life. 

And  when  in  trouble  do  not  hesitate  to  ask  advice,  though  you 
may  well  hesitate  about  taking  much  of  it.  Advice  helps  one 
to  get  the  other  fellow's  viewpoint,  the  world's  opinion.  More- 
over, when  in  trouble  and  in  doubt,  remember  just  a  few  stand- 
ards of  conduct.  1 . — If  all  other  persons  should  act  this  way  or 
that  way,  where  would  the  world  end?  2. — Courage  and  honor 
are  the  highest  qualities,  sometimes  absolutely  prescribed;  but 
patience  and  tact  may  help  tide  along  until  there  is  better  cosmic 
weather.  3. — Persons  who  are  tired  and  sick  should  be  wary 
about  expressing  themselves;  they  may  be  right,  but  others  will 
not  believe  them. 

Finally,  it  is  not  the  good  resolution  but  the  day's  work  that 
counts. 

300 


APPENDIX  II 

AN   OPEN    LETTER   TO   THE    EXPERIENCED 
CLASS   TEACHER 

The  secret  of  progress  is  forward  change;  of  power,  is  truth- 
seeing. 

The  optimist  tales  off  his  incomes,  the  pessimist  his  expenses; 
but  the  philosophical  veteran  counts  assets  and  debits,  re- 
ceipts and  outgoes,  and  strikes  the  balance  truthfully. 

Middle-life  and  old  age  have  their  advantages :  "  We  have  seen 
something  like  this  before."  Routine  has  lost  its  irksomeness 
and  has  given  us  habit,  familiarity,  facility  and  skill.  And  we 
do  know  something  about  people,  not  very  much,  not  too  much, 
not  enough  indeed,  but  something;  we  are  not  so  often  surprised. 

Blessed  are  they  who  at  fi.ftj'^  years  of  age  have  still  kept  their 
visions.  In  a  hundred  years,  we  have  created  a  whole  generation 
of  old  persons,  raising  the  average  term  of  life  a  dozen  years. 
The  center  of  social  gravity  has  been  lifted  from  the  man  forty 
years  of  age  to  the  man  of  fifty-five.^  The  dead-line  of  old  age 
used  to  be  at  forty  years:  it  is  now  at  sixty,  as  our  teachers' 
pension  laws  show.  We  have  done  also  many  other  wonderful 
things  in  the  past  hundred  years,— we  have  found  that  women 
are  just  as  useful  to  culture  and  civilization  as  men  and  thereby 
have  doubled  the  workers  for  the  social  good;  we  have  learned 
to  reform  criminals,  not  simply  to  jail  or  kill  them ;  we  have  dis- 
covered the  nature  of  the  feeble-minded,  have  thereby  learned 
much  about  the  nature  of  the  normal,  and  have  come  to  love  all 

'  The  average  age  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
in  1776  was  thirty-seven  years:  that  of  our  present  Congress  is 
fifty-six  years. 

301 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 

human  beings,  even  the  unfortunate;  we  have  discovered  also 
the  values  of  the  young  and  for  the  first  time  in  human  history- 
are  freely  teaching  to  all  children  the  ways  of  culture;  we  have 
made  the  stranger  at  home  within  our  gates  and  thereby  made 
passports  relics  of  barbarism;  we  have  created  at  last  surplus 
wealth,  enough  for  each,  more  than  enough  for  all ;  and  we  have 
made  books  and  papers  as  universal  as  sunlight.  And  we  call 
this  the  beginning,  not  more,  the  beginning  of  systematic,  uni- 
versal civilization  for  humanity.    There  is  much  yet  to  do. 

We  have  yet  to  call  up  Lazarus  from  the  foot  of  the  table  of 
Dives.  Not  all  poverty  is  preventable.  Such  of  it  as  is  pre- 
ventable,—  such  as  results  from  fraud  and  ignorance,  —  we 
should  cease  to  ignore;  and  all  the  rest  we  should  relieve. 
Perhaps  ignoring  poverty  is  the  worst  of  the  remaining  vices 
of  mankind.  Education  cannot  much  longer  turn  its  face 
away  from  the  fact  that  half  of  the  "ignorance"  of  children 
is  simply  poverty  at  its  second  power  —  viz.,  physical  and 
mental  weakness  and  degeneracy. 

It  is  well  for  us  who  have  seen  half  a  century  of  this  astonishing 
progress  to  cherish  our  friendships  with  those  who  have  sur- 
vived with  us  from  the  depths  of  the  Civil  War  and  to  cultivate 
new  friendships  with  those  who,  taking  our  achievements  as 
matters  of  fact,  are  now,  with  youthful  energy,  pushing  on  into 
the  dawn. 

Even  more  important  is  it  for  us  to  woo  new  ideas.  Wisdom 
will  not  die  with  us :  nor  has  God  shut  the  gateways  of  heaven 
so  that  new  knowledge  is  not  still  flooding  out  into  this  world. 
The  river  of  the  water  of  life  flows  forever  and  is  clear  as  crystal. 

Physicians  tell  us  that  "the  body  of  a  man  is  as  old  as  his 
arteries."  The  mind  of  a  man  is  as  old  as, his  ideas,  his  truths. 
The  soul  of  the  good  man  knows  nothing  of  age,  but  forever  wel- 
comes the  new,  and  is  young  with  faith  and  aspiration. 


APPENDIX  III 
THE   CHOICE  OF  TEXT-BOOKS 

1.  There  are  now  two  hundred  publishing  houses  that  make 
text-books.     Six  of  them  are  great  national  enterprises. 

2.  Many  of  the  new  text-books  are  scientifically  fresh  and  new, 
well  printed  in  large  clear  type  on  good  paper  soft  to  the  eyes, 
handsomely  illustrated,  written  in  good  English,  and  substan- 
tially bound. 

3.  The  catalogues  of  any  of  these  houses  may  be  had  for  the 
asking.  It  is  not  necessary  even  to  send  stamps.  The  addresses 
of  any  of  the  large  houses  may  be  discovered  in  any  educational 
periodical.     They  are  all  generous  advertisers. 

4.  And  yet  many  teachers  are  still  forced  to  use  inferior  books. 
The  main  reason  is  that  teachers  do  not  know  the  foregoing 
facts,  and  that  others  (often  by  law)  choose  their  books  for  them. 

5.  To  be  specific :  There  are  now  on  the  market  to-day  (a)  four 
great  systems  of  teaching  to  read,  and  twenty  beautiful  series  of 
reading-books;  (6)  four  fine  geography  series,  two  others  almost 
as  good,  and  one  great  series  of  travel  geographies;  (c)  six 
notable  arithmetics;  (d)  three  series  of  Latin  books  and  texts; 
(e)  one  wonderful  series  of  supplementary  reading  and  two  others 
almost  as  good ;  (/)  one  complete  evening  school  series ;  (g)  three 
houses  print  libraries  of  German  and  French  texts ;  (h)  a  revolu- 
tion is  taking  place  in  science  teaching,  from  physiology  to 
physics;  (i)  there  is  one  great  house  devoted  entirely  to  school 
drawing  and  (/)  another  to  kindergarten  materials;  (k)  there 
are  three  standard  unabridged  dictionaries;  (I)  four  magnificent 
encyclopedias;  and  (m)  one  thirty- volume  history  of  the  United 
States,  invaluable  to  any  teacher.  The  smaller  houses  live  by 
publishing  notable  books,  and  one  or  more  of  them  may  be  a 

303 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND  MANAGEMENT 

leader  ten  years  hence,  so  keen  is  the  effort  to  make  yet  bett 
books  and  so  eager  are  American  educators  to  use  them. 

In  the  above  situation,  the  opportunity  of  district  schoo| 
teachers  is  their  duty.     Some  day,  State  adoptions  will  be 
abandoned;  and  in  cities  and  towns,  class  teachers  will  be  asked| 
to  help  select  the  best  books.     By  1920,  unless  the  cosmic 
weather  of  the  world  sees  some  great  war  (which  God  forbid !) ,  we 
shall  be  spending  one  billion  dollars  a  year  for  education,  and! 
twenty-five,  even  thirty  millions,  for  school-books.     We  doubled^ 
our  annual  school  and  college  expenditures  from  1900  to  1908; 
we  shall  double  them  again  from  1910  to  1920. 

The  good  teacher  asks  for  the  best  books;  the  poor  teacher 
should  have  them.  The  best  book  is  none  too  good  for  the  child, 
or  for  any  one  else. 


APPENDIX   IV 

OUTLINE    OF    A    STANDARD    MINIMUM    COURSE    OF 

STUDY    BASED    UPON    THE    COURSE    IN    THE 

SCHOOLS    OF    CINCINNATI,    OHIO 

Dr.  F.  B.  Dyer,  Superintendent  of  Schools. 

Kindergarten. — Gifts.    Occupation  Work,    Story-telling.   Music. 

Games. 
Grade  I. — English:  Blackboard  reading  lessons.     Primers  and 
First  Readers.    Five  hundred  words.    Phonics.    Spell- 
ing.    Stories. 

Number:  1-10.     Counting  to  100.     Money  coins. 

Nature:  Familiar  animals.     Seeds.     Weather. 

Writing:  Pencil — large  letters.     Blackboard — arm  move- 
ments. 

Music:  Rote-songs,  etc. 

Games.     Calisthenics.     Ethics.     Busy  Work.     Hygiene. 

Drawing:  Construction;  color. 
Grade  II. — English:  Phonics.    Second  Readers.    Spelling.    Dic- 
tation.      Oral    reproduction.      Stories.      Memorizing. 
Dramatization. 

AnYAme^ic;  Roman  numerals  to  L.    Clock.    11-50.     Easy 
measurements. 

Nature:  Some  wild  animals.     Plants.     Rain,  snow,  etc. 

Writing.   Music.   Games.    Calisthenics.   Hygiene.    Ethics. 

Drawing:  Construction;  color,  etc.;  picture-study. 
Grade  III. — Phonics.  Third  Readers.  Spelling.  Dictation. 
Plurals.  Abbreviations.  Adjectives.  Statement,  ques- 
tion, command.  Composition.  Dramatization.  Local 
stories  (of  Cincinnati).  Myths  and  legends.  Memo- 
rizing. Correction  of  oral  speech. 
305 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

i 

Arithmetic:  Multiplication  tables,  2-5.     Short  division. 

Geography:  Out-of-door  observation.    Land,  water,  life. 

Nature:  Seasons      Plants.     Animals.     Winds. 

Writing.   Music    Gam       Calisthenics.    Hygiene.    Ethics. 

Drawing:  Color,  etc     picture-stud}-.  gj, 

Grade  IV. — English:  Fourth  Readers  Spelling  and  dictation.  l| 
Forms  of  Speech.  Paragraphing  Composition.  Stories.  ]' 
Memorizing. 

Arithmetic:  Multiplication  tables,  6-12.     Long  division, 
two  figures. 

Geography:    The   globe.      North    America.      Mountain- 
systems. 

Nature:  Stars,  etc. 

Writing.     Drawing.     Music.     Hygiene.     Ethics.     Calis- 
thenics. 
Grade  V.  — Fifth  Readers.     American  history  stories.     Compo- 
sition.  Spelling.   Dictionary-study.   Dictation.   Letter- 
writing. 

Arithmetic:  Denominate  numbers.  Easy  common  fractions. 

Geography:  United  States,  Ohio. 

Nature.     Ethics.     Writing.     Drawing.     Music.     Calis- 
thenics.    Hygiene. 
Grade  VI. — English:    Sixth   Readers.      Spelling.      Memorizing. 
Grammar.     Composition.     Dictation.      Letter-writing. 
Themes  correlated  with  other  studies. 

Arithmetic:   Denominate   numbers.     Decimals.      United 
States  money. 

Geography:  Europe. 

Nature:  Animals.     Plants.     Minerals. 

History:   General,  English,  and  United  States.     Stories 
of  great  men. 

Manual  Training:  Boys,  shopwork.     Girls,  sewing. 

Drawing.    Calisthenics.    Hygiene.    Music.    Ethics.    Writ- 
ing. 
Grade  VII. — English:  Seventh  Readers.     Spelling.     Grammar. 
Composition.    Memorizing.     Social  and  business  corre- 
spondence.   Dictation. 

Arithmetic:  Fractions.     Denominate  numbers.     Percent- 
age and  interest. 

306 


APPENDIX 

Geography:  Asia.    South  America.    Africa.    Australia. 

Nature:  Matter  and  heat  by  experiments. 

History:  United  States  through  Revolution. 

Manual  Training:  Boys,  shopwork.     Girls,  sewing. 

Drawing.  Calisthenics.  Physiology.  Music.  Writing. 
Ethics. 
Grade  VIII. — English:  Eighth  Readers.  Snow-Bound ,  Sketch 
Book,  Christmas  Carol,  Julius  Ccesar,  and  other  supple- 
mentary reading.  Selections  to  be  memorized.  Spell- 
ing— Selected  lists.  Word-studies.  Synonyms,  affixes, 
meanings.  Grammar — Syntax.  Language  and  Com- 
position— Narration  and  description.  Abstracts.  Out- 
lines. Exercises  in  choice  of  words,  variety  of  expres- 
sions, and  figurative  language.  Social  and  business 
correspondence, — bills,  notes,  applications,  etc. 

Mathematics:  Ratio  and  Proportion.  Evolution.  Men- 
suration. Review.  Algebra — Fundamental  processes, 
equations,  factoring. 

Geography:  Physical  causes.  Commercial  and  industrial 
geography,  taking  the  United  States  as  a  central  point 
of  view. 

Nature:  Simple  machines,  light,  sound,  electricity,  by  ob- 
servation and  experiment. 

History:  From  the  American  Revolution.  Study  of  the 
Constitution.     Local  history  and  civics. 

Drawing:  Freehand  representation.  Construction  draw- 
ing.   Design.    Color.    Picture-study. 

Penmanship.  Ethics.  Music.  Hygiene  and  Physical 
Training.     Physiology.     Physical  Exercise. 

Manual  Training:  Boys,  shopwork.  Girls,  cooking. 
Special  syllabus. 

21 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


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APPENDIX  V 
ILLUSTRATIVE    LESSON    PLANS   AND   EXAMINATION 

ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  LESSONS 

1.  Grade  VIII.     Arithmetic  Review.     (Deductive.) 

Time,  30  min.    Topic  :  Six  Per  Cent.  Interest. 

Presentation.  Review,  by  question-and-answer,  definitions  of 
terms, — interest,  principal,  rate,  amount.  Inquire  as  to  facts 
of  legal  interest  rate  and  of  prevailing  rates. 

Generalization.  Review  development  (on  blackboard  and 
orally). 

Years     Int.  upon  $100  for  1  yr.     =  $6.  upon  $1.  =  $.06 

Int.  upon  $100  for  2  mo.    =  $1.  upon  $1.  =  $.01 

Months  Int.  upon  $100  for  1  mo.    =  $   .5  upon  $1.  =  $.005 

Days      Int.  upon  $100  for  1  day    =$   .0167     upon  $1.  =  $.000167 
Incidental  process.     1     yr.  =  12  mo.       ^  yr.    =2  mo. 
^  yr.  =     1  mo.       ^  mo.  =  6  days. 
1  yr.  =  360  days.      1  mo.  =  30  days.       1  day  =  ^^  mo.  =  -g^  year. 

Rule.  To  find  interest  upon  a  given  principal  at  six  per  cent, 
for  years,  months  and  days: — Multiply  the  principal  (a)  by  the 
product  of  the  number  of  years  times  $.06,  for  years ;  (6)  by 
the  product  of  the  number  of  months  times  $.005,  for  months; 
and  (c)  by  the  product  of  the  number  of  days  times  $.000167, 
for  days.    The  sum  of  (a),  (6)  and  (c)  is  the  interest. 

312 


APPENDIX 

Application.  Find  the  interest  upon  $300  for  2  yr.,  4  mo., 
12  days  at  six  per  cent. 

Yrs.      300  X     2  X  $(}.  =  $36. 

Mos,     300  X    4  X  $  .005        =  $  6. 
Days    300  x  12  x  $  .000167  =■-  $     .60 

$42.60 

Answer,  $42.60 

Drill.  Examples  in  finding  simple  interest  for  years,  months 
and  days. 

2.  Grade   VIII.     Grammar  Advance.     (Deductive.) 

Time,  30  min.    Topic:  The  Inflnitlye  To  Be. 

Presentation.  Review  by  question-and-answer  definitions  of 
transitiv^e  and  intransitive  verbs  and  of  complements,  and  have 
principal  parts  of  the  verb  "be"  given. 

(a)  To  be  prejudiced  is  to  be  weak. 

(6)  He  tried  to  be  in  his  place  promptly. 

(c)  His  ambition  was  to  be  first  always. 

(d)  The  prisoner  longed  to  be  free. 

Bring  out  by  questions  that  "  to  be  "  is  a  form  of  the  verb  "  be  " 
that  may  be  used  like  a  noun  as  the  subject  or  complement,  and 
like  a  verb  may  take  a  complement. 

Proceed  in  the  same  manner  with  (6),  (c),  and  (d). 
These  verb  forms  are  all  called  "infinitives." 
Generalizations.     1.  An  infinitive  may  be  used  like  a  noun  as : 
(a)  The  subject. 
(6)  The  object  complement, 
(c)  The  attribute  complement. 

2.  An  infinitive  may  be  completed  like  a  verb  by: 

(a)  An  object  complement. 
(6)  An  attribute  complement. 

3.  An  infinitive  may  be  modified  like  a  verb  by: 

(a)  An  adverb. 
(&)  An  adverbial  jDhrase. 
Application.     Have  a  set  of  sentences  on  the  blackboard  and 
direct  pupils  to  select  the  infinitive,  giving  the  use  and  modifica- 

313 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

tion  of  each.     Let  each  child  tell  in  what  respect  the  infinitive 
is  like  a  noun  and  in  what  it  is  like  a  verb. 

3.  Gbade  VL    English.     (Exercise.) 

Time,  15  minutes  each  day  for  a  week. 
Review  of  a  selection  from  The  Man  Without  a  Country,  by 
Edward  Everett  Hale. 

Purposes. 

1.  Practical.  To  teach  the  children  to  know  and  use  good 
English.  By  memorizing  good  English  prose,  it  must  become 
instilled  in  the  mind  and  finally  become  a  part  of  the  vocabu- 
lary,— hence  the  need  of  review  or  repetition. 

2.  Ethical.  To  teach  and  help  to  a  love  of  family  and  to  a 
love  of  country. 

Method. 

Exemplification.  Children  place  upon  desks  selections  from 
The  Man  Without  a  Country.  The  teacher  reads  the  selection 
carefully  and  the  pupils  go  through  it  once  slowly  and  with 
expression,  as  taught. 

Interpretation.  Questions  are  asked  as  to  the  meaning  and 
explanations  are  given  of  certain  parts,  e.  g. — "What  had  just 
taken  place  to  which  the  words  'Let  that  show  you,'  refer?" 
Try  to  have  children  realize  the  intense  feeling  of  Nolan  in  the 
part  beginning,  "And  for  your  country,  boy,  and  for  that  flag," 
etc.  Ask — "Why  are  the  words  'Through  a  thousand  hells' 
used?"  Here,  "  hell  "  means  "  place  of  death."  Spend  three 
or  four  minutes  upon  this  rapid  questioning  for  interpretation. 

Imitation.     Several  pupils  read  the  selection. 

Memorizing  (habituation).  By  reading  and  study  and  repe- 
tition, individuals  and  class  gradually  learn  the  selection. 
Finally,  there  is  repeating  of  the  passage  in  concert,  with  quiet 
voices,  from  memory.  If  certain  parts  have  been  forgotten, 
have  children  open  papers  and  study  for  a  few  minutes.  Then 
drill  a  little,  orally,  upon  these  parts.  Frequently  spend  a  few 
minutes  upon  individual  recitation. 

Until  learned,  this  is  to  be  upon  the  blackboard: 

314 


APPENDIX 

"Youngster,  let  that  show  you  what  it  is  to  be  without  a 
family,  without  a  home,  and  without  a  country.  And  if  you 
are  ever  tempted  to  say  a  word  or  to  do  a  thing  that  shall  put 
a  bar  between  you  and  your  family,  your  home,  and  your 
country,  pray  God  in  His  mercy  to  take  you  chat  instant  home 
to  His  own  heaven.  Stick  by  your  family,  boy,  forget  you  have 
a  self,  while  you  do  everything  for  them.  Think  of  your  home, 
boy;  write  and  send  and  talk  about  it.  Let  it  be  nearer  and 
nearer  to  your  thought,  the  farther  you  have  to  travel  from  it; 
and  rush  back  to  it  when  you  are  free,  as  that  poor  black  slave 
is  doing  now.  And  for  your  country,  boy,"  and  the  words 
rattled  in  his  throat,  "and  for  that  flag,"  and  he  pointed  to  the 
ship,  "never  dream  a  dream  but  of  serving  her  as  she  bids  you 
though  the  service  carry  you  through  a  thousand  hells.  No 
matter  what  happens  to  you,  no  matter  who  flatters  you  or  who 
abuses  you,  never  look  at  another  flag,  never  let  a  night  pass  but 
you  pray  God  to  bless  that  flag.  Remember,  boy,  that  behind 
all  these  men  you  have  to  do  with,  behind  officers,  and  govern- 
ment, and  people  even,  there  is  the  Countiy  Herself,  your 
Country,  and  that  you  belong  to  Her  as  you  belong  to  your  own 
mother.  Stand  by  Her,  boy,  as  you  would  stand  by  your 
mother." 

4.  Grade  V.    Geography  Review.     (Question-and-answer.) 

Time,  30  min.    Topic  :  India. 

Purpose. 

1.  General.  To  review  the  location  of  land  and  water  areas, 
heat  areas,  water  and  ocean  currents,  food  and  mineral  areas. 

2.  Specific.  To  review  position,  size,  form,  surrounding 
waters,  islands,  surface,  rivers,  productions,  commerce,  inhab- 
itants, and  cities  of  India. 

Commands      1.  Calling:  "Class  ready  for  geography." 

2.  Dismissal:  "  The  lesson  is  over." 

Material.  Large  map  of  Asia.  Production  map  of  Asia. 
Papier-mache  map  of  Asia.  Maps  of  Asia  (in  books).  Pointer. 
Post-cards.     Pictures  in  geography  books.     Paper.     Pencils. 

Crayon. 

315 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

The  following  topics  on  blackboard: 

Recitation.     India.     (Blackboard  analysis.) 

Position — boundaries.     Extent.     Size.     Form. 

Surrounding  waters:  Indian  Ocean.  Arabian  Sea.  Bay  of 
Bengal. 

Islands:  Ceylon. 

Surface:  Plateaus — Deccan.     Mountains — Himalaya, 

Rivers:  Ganges.     Indus.     Brahmapootra. 

Climate. 

Produdiojis:  1.  Agricultural:  Grains.  Fruits.  Spices.  Rice. 
Opium. 

2.  Minerals — Diamonds. 

3.  Manufactured — Calico. 
Commerce. 
Inliabitants. 
Government. 
Cities:  Calcutta.    Bombay.    Madras.    Delhi.    Benares.  ] 

5.  Gkade  V.    Drawing  Advance.     (Exercise.) 

Time,  30.  min.    Topic:  The  Black -Eyed  Susan  (color  lesson).     \ 

Purpose. 

1.  To  secure  shape,  size,  and  color  values. 

2.  To  give  to  the  child  an  impressive  idea  of  complementary 
colors,  as  he  sees  them  in  Nature. 

3.  To  have  the  child  study  the  way  Nature  has  shaded  the 
colors. 
Material. 

Drawing-paper,  6x9.     Paints.     Paint  cloth. 
Method. 

Give  to  each  of  the  children  a  flower. 

Explanation.     Have  them  handle  and   study  its  parts: 

1.  The  shape,  color,  and  shading  of  the  petals. 

2.  The  shape,  color,  and  shading  of  the  stem. 

3.  The  shape,  color,  and  position  of  leaves. 
Exemplification.     The  teacher  paints  a  flower,  keeping  a  little      ' 

in  advance  of  the  pupils. 
Imitation.    After  the  children  have  become  very  familiar  with 

316 


APPENDIX 

the  flower,  let  them  begin  with  the  center;  then  the  petals,  using 
the  clear  paint  on  the  brush. 

From  the  blossoms  let  the  pupils  gradually  work  down  the 
stem,  putting  in  the  leaves  as  they  see  them. 

The  leaves  and  rays  are  hardly  more  than  brush  strokes,  with 
here  and  there  a  little  more  color  added,  to  secure  darker  tones 
or  shadows. 

Repetition.  A  second  attempt  to  paint  this  will  be  much  more 
satisfactory  than  the  first,  especially  in  the  mixing  of  the  colors. 

Memorandum.  Have  children  take  great  care  in  cleaning  and 
thoroughly  drying  boxes. 

6.  Grade  IV.     Physiology  Advance.     (Inductive.) 

Topic:  The  Teeth. 
Purpose. 

General.     To  teach  the  children  facts  that  concern  their  health. 
Specific.     To  train  the  children  to  care  for  their  teeth. 

Material. 

Chart.     Diagram  on  board. 

Preparation.     The  teeth  are  really  the  first  organs  of  diges- 
tion.    Since  they  play  so  important  a  part,  we  should  learn  how 
to  care  well  for  them. 
Method. 

Experiment.     Effect  of  acid  upon  lime. 

Presentation.     Structure  of  tooth  (from  chart  or  diagram). 

I.  White — shiny — smooth — hard  (rougher  under  gum). 

II.  Softer. 

III.  Pulpy  (nerves  and  blood-vessels). 

Tooth  usually  decays  from  outside  inward.  Hence,  by  keep- 
ing the  outside  clean,  we  can  help  to  keep  the  teeth  in  good 
condition. 

How  the  enamel  may  be  destroyed. 

Tooth  is  lime  compound. 

Association.  Food  decomposes  (candy).  Acid  forms.  Re- 
sult (experiment). 

Generalization.  Therefore,  teeth  should  be  cleaned  after  eat- 
mg  anything.    Hard  toothpicks  are  bad  for  the  gums.    Nuts 

317 


CLASS   TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 


should  be  thoroughly  shelled.  Very  hot  and  very  cold  drinks 
make  trouble.  Use  pure  water  with  soap  or  tooth-powder  to 
clean  teeth. 

Application.  Decaying  teeth  not  only  cause  the  owner  ill- 
health  and  suffering,  but  are  also  offensive  to  others.  Remember 
that  there  are  others  in  the  world,  and  they  would  like  to  enjoy 
your  wholesome  appearance. 

7.  Grade  III.     Reading  Advance.     (Exercise.) 
Time,  20  min.    Topic  :  A  Brave  Boy. 
Material. 

Baldwin  Third  Reader. 
Purposes. 

(a)  To  get  thought  from  the  printed  page. 

(b)  To  get  new  words. 
Exemplification.     Phonic  word  preparation. 

Syllabicate  and  place  on  the  board  the  following  words,  omit- 
ting all  diacritical  and  accent  marks. 

Imitation.     Drill  by  class  and  individually  with  special  atten- 
tion to  th,  wh;  final  t,  d,  n. 


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Interpretation.     Ask  for  meaning  of  difficult  words, 
the  following  phrases : 

(a)  "  disappear  in  the  distance." 
(6)  "  distant  noise." 
(c)  "  passengers  were  grateful." 
id)  "  took  no  notice." 

318 


Explain 


APPENDIX 

Erase  the  list  before  the  actual  reading  lesson  begins. 

Questions-and- Answers.     Awaken  the  pupil's  expectation. 

Study.  Silent  reading.  Have  pupils  read  ^  1 ;  then  ask  them 
with  closed  book  to  answer  questions  on  the  paragraph. 

Interpretation.  Proceed  through  the  lesson,  paragraph  by 
paragraph. 

Question-and- Answer.     1.  Describe  Andy  Moore. 

2.  Tell  where  his  home  was.     What  did  he  like  to  do? 

3.  Describe  the  house. 

4.  What  could  Andy  see  from  his  house? 

5.  Did  Andy  wish  to  ride? 

6.  What  did  he  see  one  day? 

7.  What  caused  the  noise  he  heard? 

8.  How  did  Andy  try  to  stop  the  train? 

9.  Tell  how  the  engineer  felt  at  first;   later. 
10.  How  did  the  passengers  reward  Andy? 
Exemplification   and   Imitation.     Study   the    following   sen- 
tences for  oral  expression  and  have  individuals  read  to  the  class. 

(a)  "As  for  what  people  would  say  about  it,  what  did  he 
care?" 

(6)  "Just  then  he  heard  a  low,  distant  noise." 

(c)  "Dear,  dear!  the  cars  were  coming!" 

{d)  "They  would  soon  be  there!" 

(e)  "On,  on  came  the  cars." 

(/)  "But  Andy  stood  still  and  did  not  move  an  inch." 

ig)  "The  men  said,  'God  bless  the  brave  boy!'" 
Habituation.     Exercises  to  show  an  understanding  and  mas- 
tery of  what  has  been  attempted,  including: 
Utilization.     1.  Oral  reading  by  pupils. 

2.  Reproduction  of  the  content  of  sections,  and 

3.  Free  reproduction  of  the  whole  content,  orally. 

8.  Gbade  II.    Reading.     (Observation  Drill  Exercise.) 

Time,  20  min.    Topic:  Word  Review. 

Presentation.  Fifty  words  are  printed  in  columns  upon  the 
board.  Repeat  in  several  columns  words  that  are  especially 
troublesome. 

Exemplification.  Children,  as  called  upon,  pronounce  the  words, 

319 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 

taking  them  in  order  without  any  pointing  by  the  teacher.  This 
requires  each  child  to  watch  attentively.  Call  often  upon  the 
slower  ones. 

Repetition.  Change  the  method  slightly  the  next  time.  The 
teacher  points  quickly  to  a  word,  and,  after  removing  the  pointer, 
asks  a  child  to  name  the  word  indicated.  This  also  requires 
close  attention,  and  gives  the  teacher  a  good  opportunity  to 
clinch  the  words  by  pointing  to  a  word  many  times  and  calling 
upon  the  ones  who  do  not  recognize  it  readily  to  name  it. 

Testing.  The  teacher  may  then  change  her  method  again, 
and  say,  e.  g.,  "Find  'beautiful'  in  the  first  column,"  etc.  This 
adds  interest  and  speed.  Each  child  must  look  at  each  word  in 
the  column  specified.  By  designating  the  column,  we  keep  the 
children  from  looking,  "hit  or  miss,"  all  over  the  board. 

9.  Grade  I.     Number.     (Dramatization  Exercise.) 

Time,  20  min.    Topic  :  Nine. 
Aims. 

(a)  General.  To  gain  accuracy,  facility,  and  rapidity,  and  to 
make  process  automatic. 

(6)  Specify.  To  teach  facts  of  the  number  9 :  5  +  4,6+3, 
7  +  2,  8  +  1,  and  subtraction  facts:  3  X  3,  9  -^-  3,  i  of  9. 

Basis  of  Lesson.     Children's  knowledge  of  (1)  facts  through 
the  number  eight  previously  taught  and  drilled  upon,  (2)  terms 
used,  as  "add,"  "take  away,"  "how  many,"  "times,"  (3)  usual 
method  of  instruction. 
Material. 

Bundle  of  ten  toothpicks ;  pile  of  ten  gun- wads  for  each  child ; 
chart  of  facts  through  nine ;  blackboard  and  crayon. 

Exemplification  and  Imitation.  Senses  appealed  to :  (1)  touch, 
(2)  sight,  (3)  hearing. 

(a)  Touch  and  sight.    Children  use  (1)  gun- wads  to  make 

pictures  as  teacher  directs,  (2)  break  toothpicks 
to  get  ^  of  9,  (3)  crayon  or  pencil  to  draw  same, 
and  then  to  express  it,  using  figures. 

(b)  Sight  and  hearing.     Chart  drill. 

Habituation.     Seat    work.     (1)  Domino    cards.     (2)  Other 
cards,  etc. 

320 


APPENDIX 

10.  Grade  VIII,     United  States  History.     (Written  Test.) 

Time,  50  min.    Topic:  One-half  year's  work,— 1800-1805. 

1.  In  each  case,  give  two  or  more  reasons  why  each  of  the  follow- 
ing men  is  famous, — (a)  Thomas  Jefferson;  (b)  Zachary 
Taylor. 

2.  (a)  What  were  two  causes  of  the  War  of  1812?  (6)  What 
victory  was  won  in  the  war  by  Andrew  Jackson? 

3.  What  were  the  circunistances  that  led  to  the  annexation  of 
Texas? 

4.  (a)  What  was  the  Dred  Scott  case?  (6)  What  was  its  effect 
upon  public  sentiment  in  the  North? 

5.  Explain  the  meaning  of  the  term  "State's  Rights." 

6.  Draw  a  sketch-map  of  the  United  States,  and  upon  it  locate 
(a)  Bull  Run,  (b)  Pittsburgh  Landing,  (o)  Hampton 
Roads,  (d)  New  Orleans,  (e)  Gettj^sburg,  (/)  Vicksburg, 
(g)  Chancellorsville,  (h)  Atlanta,  (i)  Richmond,  (/)  Wash- 
ington. 

7.  Why  did  President  Lincoln  issue  the  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation ? 

8.  Tell  about  any  two  important  inventions  in  this  period. 

9.  Name  one  important  author  in  this  period,  and  at  least  one 
of  his  productions. 

10.  (a)  What  is  the  Congress  of  the  United  States?     (h)  Tell 
how  the  members  are  chosen. 


APPENDIX   VI 
ILLUSTRATIVE  TEACHERS'  EXAMINATIONS 

I.  ELEMENTARY  TEACHERS'  EXAMINATIONS 

Ohio  uniform  teachei's'  examination  questions  for  county 
teachers'  examination  for  the  Elementary  School  Certificate, 
prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  State  School  Commissioner 
and  sent  out  from  his  office  in  accordance  with  Section  7819  of 
the  General  Code,  for  August,  1910. 

1.    ARITHMETIC 

1.  A  pole  72  feet  long  was  broken  off  so  that  §  of  the  shorter 

piece  was  4f  of  the  longer  piece.  What  was  the  length  of 
each  piece? 

2.  Name  the  elements  of  the  circle  and  give  the  values  of  each 

term  in  the  terms  of  the  other  dimensions  given. 

3.  A  rectangle  whose  diagonal  is  40  feet  contains  3|  acres;  what 

is  the  diagonal  of  one  that  contains  four  times  as  much? 
What  are  the  dimensions  of  the  latter  rectangle? 
4-5.  Solve  and  explain  as  to  a  class  of  beginners:  A  dealer 
bought  a  drove  of  cattle  for  $1800.  He  sold  them  at 
public  sale,  taking  90-day  notes  drawing  interest  at  6%  for 
$2180.  He  discounted  the  notes  in  bank  at  8%.  What 
per  cent,  did  he  gain  on  the  transaction? 

6.  I  sold  a  farm  of  160  acres  at  $75  per  acre,  which  annually 

yielded  an  income  of  $6  per  acre,  and  invested  the  proceeds 
in  8%  stock  at  80,  including  the  brokerage.  What  was 
the  change  in  my  income? 

7.  It  is  eighteen  minutes  until  12  o'clock;  when  will  the  minute 

hand  overtake  the  hour  hand?    How  far  did  it  travel? 
322 


APPENDIX 

8.  If  the  gravel  for  a  street  i  of  a  mile  long  cost  S4200  for  depth 
of  9  inches  deep,  the  width  of  the  street  being  50  feet, 
what  would  be  the  cost  of  macadamizing  a  street  1^  miles 
long,  60  feet  wide  at  a  depth  of  8  inches  if  the  stone  cost 
80%  more  than  the  gravel  ? 

2.   PHYSIOLOGY 

1.  What  are  the  chief  offices  of  the  tongue?    Of  the  eustachian 

tube?     Of  the  spleen? 

2.  Define  mind-study;   intellect;   sensibility.     How  are  these 

affected  by  the  environment? 

3.  What  is  malaria?    What  are  its  causes?    Its  prevention? 

4.  Describe  two  distinct  kinds  of  poisoning.     Give  the  antidotes 

for  each. 

5.  Describe  in  detail  the  inner  ear. 

6.  In  what  way  do  the  physical  defects  of  children  operate  upon 

their  morals? 

7.  Define  the  different  processes  of  digestion.     What  are  the 

effects  of  narcotics  and  alcoholics  upon  each  of  these 
processes? 

8.  Give  all  the  uses  of  the  saliva.     Of  the  different  divisions  of 

the  nervous  system. 

3.    GRAMMAR 

1.  What    is    grammar?    A    grammar?     What    is    historical 

grammar?    A  language?     Etymology? 

2.  Give  the  past  tense  and  past  participle  of  do,  set,  fly,  strew, 

and  weave. 

3.  Write  the  singular  and  plural  possessive  of  deer,  apple,  ox, 

]\Iary,  German,  ally,  chief,  buffalo,  man-of-war,  goose- 
quill. 

4.  What  is  an  adjective  clause?     Show  one  in  a  sentence. 

Abridge  this  sentence.     Parse  each  word  in  the  abridged 
sentence. 

5.  Write  a  paragraph  of  not  less  than  ten  lines  on  the  topic 

"The  Material  Benefits  of  the  Study  of  Language  and 
Composition." 
22  323 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 

6.  ^\^lat  is  a  phrase?    Classify  phrases  and  give  examples  of 

each  in  sentences. 

7.  Distinguish   between   finite   and   infinite   verbs;    between 

regular  and  irregular  verbs;   between  deponent  and  re- 
flexive verbs.     Give  examples. 

8.  Diagram  and  parse  the  italicized  words: 

"So  thick  a  haze  o'erspreads  the  sky, 
They  cannot  see  the  sun  on  high; 
The  wind  hath  blown  a  gale  all  day; 
At  evening  it  hath  died  away." 

4.    GEOGRAPHY 

1.  Name  the  great  religions  of  the  world.     In  what  countries 

do  they  exist?     Who  are  the  leading  races  of  people  that 
worship  these  religions? 

2.  Account  for  the  location  and  growth  of  Cincinnati.     Of 

Toledo.     Of  Melbourne. 

3.  What  are  the  principal  resources  of  the  Rhine  valley?     Of 

the  Valley  of  the  Ganges?     Of  the  countries  west  of  the 
Andes  Mountains? 

4.  Give  the  latitude  of  England  and  of  Tasmania.     Which  is 

colder?    Why? 

5.  Name  some  country  famous  for  the  production  of  diamonds ; 

of  quinine;  of  salt;  of  hemp;  of  zinc. 

6.  Compare  Oregon  and  Tennessee  in  area,  population,  minerals, 

and  natural  resources. 

7.  Where  are  the  following  places  and  for  what  noted:   Plains 

of  Abraham?    Barcelona?   The  Soo?   Trinidad?   Mecca? 

8.  What  can  you  tell  about  the  disputed  boundary-line  between 

the  United  States  and  Mexico?     About  the  proposed  ad- 
mission of  two  more  States  to  our  Union  ? 

9.  Name  some  coal-producing  counties  in  Ohio.     The  tobacco 

counties.     The  wine-producing  counties.     The  oil  coun- 
ties.    The  largest  aiid  the  smallest  county  in  Ohio. 
10.  Describe  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia.      Locate  the  leading 
cities,  capes,  islands,  and  ports  of  entry. 

Examinations  were  given  also  in  Theory  and  Practice  of 

324 


APPENDIX 

Teaching,  in  United  States  History,  in  Reading,  in  Literature,  in 
Orthography,  and  in  Writing. 

II.  ILLUSTRATIVE  EXAMINATIONS  FOR  HIGH 
SCHOOL  CERTIFICATE 

1.    GERMAN 

1.  Translate: 

Indessen  verursachten  die  Erziehung  seiner  Tochter  und 
das  Leben  in  der  Stadt  erliohte  Ausgahen.  Ein  Defizit 
von  fast  zwei  tausend  Thalern  war  die  Folge.  Da  iiberre- 
dete  Ehrentahl  den  Baron,  ihm  zehntausend  Thaler  Vor- 
schuss  zu  geben,  um  ihm  zu  beweisen,  wie  leicht  es  auch 
fiir  einen  Edelmann  sei,  mit  barem  Gelde  ein  schnelles  und 
vortheilhaftes  Geschaft  zu  machen.  Mit  den  zehntausend 
Thalern  wurde  ein  Vorrath  Holz  von  einem  betriigerischen 
— dem  Freiherrn  unbekannten — Holzhdndler  gekauft,  der, 
wie  Ehrenthal  behauptete,  grade  jetzt  das  Geld  brauchte 
und  nicht  auf  eine  giinstigere  Zeit  warten  konnte,  um  das 
Holz  zu  seinem  Werthe  zu  verkaufen.  Der  Freiherr 
glaubte  dieser  Darstellung;  und  Wochen  spater  teilte  er 
mit  Ehrenthal  den  Gewinn  von  viertausend  Thalern. 
Das  Defizit  des  Barons  war  gedeckt;  und  Ehrenthals  ver- 
hangnissvoller  Einfluss  auf  den  Edelmann  war  gesichert. 

2.  To  what  declension  of  nouns  do  the  italicized  words  belong? 

3.  Give  the  principal  parts  of  the  following: 

Der  Mensch,  der  Schimmel,  dieser  lange  Wald,  eine 
breite  Wiese,  dieser  grosse  Bar. 

4.  Decline  the  demonstrative  in  the  sg.  and  plu.  of  der  die  das. 

(a)  Give  the  interrogative  pronouns  wer  and  was. 
(6)  Decline  the  personal  pronouns  sg.  and  plu. 

5.  Conjugate  in  sg.  and  plu.,  all  tenses,  subjunctive  mode,  the 

verb  ich  werde  gejagt. 

6.  Write  the  principal  parts  of  these  verbs:  schreiben,  biegen, 

nehmen,  schelten,  treffen,  werfen,  verschwinden,  beenden, 
gebieten,  iiberfallen,  entlaufen,  erschlagen, 

7.  Translate  into  German: 

He  is  a  genuine  friend  of  the  workingmen,  but  he  always 
325 


CLASS    TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 

acts  in  his  own  interest,  which  he  hopes  to  increase  in  time 
to  come.  You  are  not  safe  in  Uri ;  for  the  tyrants  lend  a 
hand  to  one  another.  As  she  entered  the  room  I  noticed 
that  she  had  been  weeping.  I  endeavored  to  console  her. 
She  would  not  be  consoled,  but  cried  more  than  ever  for 
the  child  that  had  been  taken  from  her  by  God. 

2.    PHYSICAL   GEOGRAPHY 

1.  How  do  you  account  for  the  soil  of  Ohio?     For  the  different 

rocks  of  Ohio  ?     For  the  waters  of  Ohio  ? 

2.  Give  location  of  the  cotton  and  wheat  belts  of  the  United 

States.  Of  the  coal  regions  of  the  world.  Account  for 
these. 

3.  What  is  meant  by  high  and  low  barometer?     In  what  direc- 

tion do  the  winds  blow  in  reference  to  these?  What 
special  uses  for  the  barometer? 

4.  Explain  moraines  and  the  different  kinds  of  moraines,  and 

tell  how  we  may  know  them. 

5.  Give  three  sources  of  the  deposits  of  the  sea.     What  are  some 

of  the  effects  of  these  deposits? 

6.  Explain  the  formation  of  lakes.     Write  about  the  Great 

Lakes  as  to  size,  formation,  effects  upon  the  climate  and 
the  people,  their  location,  etc. 

7.  Where  in  the  schools  should  the  teaching  of  physical  geog- 

raphy be  begun  ?     Why  so  ?     How  ? 

8.  Describe  the  physiography  of  the  coasts  of  Africa. 

9.  Make  a  list  of  the  world's  great  lowlands  and  give  the  climates 

and  productions  of  each. 
10.  State  the  origin  and  form  of  sand-reefs. 

3.   PHYSICS 

1.  Describe  and  give  the  principles  of  the  speaking-tube.    Give 

an  experiment  to  show  that  sound-waves  are  not  trans- 
mitted in  a  vacuum. 

2.  What  is  a  gas?    Give  a  law  for  the  expansion  of  gases. 

What  apparent  exceptions  to  the  law? 
32G 


APPENDIX 

3.  Give  three  different  ways  in  which  a  body  may  be  charged 

with  electricity.  How  may  we  know  that  a  body  is 
charged  with  electricity?  Give  some  of  the  effects  of  a 
body  being  electrically  charged. 

4.  Make  drawings  showing  the  experiments  necessary  to  ex- 

plain the  pendulum  and  its  uses.  Write  your  deductions 
from  these  experiments. 

5.  A  belt  runs  from  a  fly-wheel  to  pulley.    The  pulley  is  16 

inches  in  diameter  and  makes  1800  revolutions  per  min- 
ute while  the  fly-wheel  rotates  150  times  per  minute. 
What  is  the  diameter  of  the  fly-wheel? 

6.  Howcanyoutell  thepoleof  ahelix?    How  tell  the  direction 

of  the  current? 

7.  Write  the  rules  of  capillary  attraction.     Illustrate  with  ex- 

periments that  you  would  use  in  a  class. 

8.  What  is  refraction  of  light?    Write  the  laws  for  refraction. 

Give  the  results  of  the  refraction  of  light  and  the  uses  of  it. 

4.  CHEMISTRY 

1.  Give  two  methods  of  preparing  oxygen;  write  equations. 

2.  What  is  an  acid?     A  base?     A  salt?    Name  two  of  each, 

giving  chemical  formula  in  each  instance. 

3.  State  and  explain  Boyle's  law. 

4.  Calculate  the  weight  of  sodium  chloride  necessary  to  produce 

25  grams  of  hydrochloric  acid. 

5.  Give  one  method  of  preparing  chlorine;  write  equations. 

6.  Explain  the  structure  and  the  principle  of  the  miner's  safety- 

lamp. 

7.  Explain  one  process  for  extracting  iron  from  its  ore. 

8.  State  briefly  the  chemistry  of  ordinary  combustion. 

9.  What  are  the  following  and  how  produced:  KCIO3?    MnCU? 

CuCNOa),? 
10.  Name  the  parts  of  a  flame.    Give  the  chemistry  of  the  flame. 

5.  GEOMETRY 

1.  Define  axiom,  postulate,  corollary  frustum  of  a  cone,  and 

spherical  triangle. 

2.  Prove:  All  radii  of  sphere  are  equal. 

327 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 

3.  Prove:  If  the  two  chords  of  circle  are  perpendicular  to  each 

other,  the  sum  of  the  four  circles  described  on  the  four 
segments  as  diameters  is  equivalent  to  the  given  circle. 

4.  Construct  an  angle  of  18°;  an  angle  of  120^. 

5.  Prove :  Two  altitudes  of  a  triangle  are  inversely  proportional 

to  the  corresponding  bases. 

6.  Find  the  locus  of  points  equidistant  from  the  three  edges  of 

a  trihedral  angle. 

7.  Prove:  The  areas  of  two  triangles  which  have  an  angle  of 

the  one  supplementary  to  an  angle  of  the  other  are  to 
each  other  as  the  products  of  the  sides  including  the 
supplementary  angles. 

8.  Construct  a  triangle,  given  its  base,  the  ratio  of  the  other 

sides,  and  the  angle  included  by  them. 

6.    CIVIL   GOVERNMENT 

1.  Give  the  composition  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 

States  at  this  date.  What  is  the  salary  of  its  members? 
When  and  how  can  its  members  retire? 

2.  \Vhat  can  you  say  of  the  effects  upon  our  civic  affairs  of  a 

political  campaign?  Of  what  value  are  political  cam- 
paigns? 

3.  What  were  some  of  the  laws  passed  by  Congress  at  its  recent 

session?     Describe  one. 

4.  Who  is  a  foreigner?     How  may  he  become  an  American 

citizen? 

5.  Describe  our  bankruptcy  laws. 

6.  Write  about  some  of  the  efforts  in  America  to  form  a  union 

during  colonial  times. 

7.  Define  jurisdiction,  appellate  jurisdiction,  original  jurisdic- 

tion, right  of  appeal,  and  habeas  corpus  proceedings. 

8.  Describe  fully  how  the  Constitution  may  be  amended.    Give 

the  aims  of  the  last  three  amendments  adopted. 
9-10.  Write  a  short  description  of  the  organization  and  manner 
of  work  of  our  State  Legislature. 

Examinations  were  given  also  in  Latin,  Algebra,  Botany, 
Rhetoric,  Literature,  Physiology,  General  History,  and  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Teaching. 

328 


APPENDIX  VII 
RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  FOR  A  DISTRICT  SCHOOL 

Suggestions 

I.  Have  as  few  rules  and  regulations  as  possible. 

II.  Talk  about  them  but  little. 

III.  Read  them  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  to  the  class. 

IV.  Keep  them  on  file  (in  print  or  in  writing)  for  reference  in 

case  of  need. 
V.  Never  make  a  rule  after  the  event  and  then  punish  an 

offender. 
VI.  Make  only  such  rules  and  regulations  as  are  needed  to  cover 

cases  likely  to  arise. 
VII.  In  actual  practise,  it  may  be  necessary  to  make  some 
special  rules  for  boys  and  others  for  girls,  and  some  for 
the  older  pupils  and  others  for  the  younger. 

Rules 

1    The  hours  of  the  school-day  are : 

School  begins a.m. 

Recess  at to a.m. 

Morning  session  ends 

Afternoon  session  begins p.m. 

Recess  at to p.m. 

School  closes 

2.  Pupils  are  to  be  in  their  seats  when  school  begins. 

3.  Pupils  may  leave  school  only  with  the  teacher's  permission. 

4.  Pupils  absent  or  tardy  are  to  bring  a  written  excuse  from 

home. 

329 


1 

CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 

5.  Pupils  whose  tardiness  or  absence  is  unexcused  may  be  re-  ] 

quired  to  make  up  the  lost  time  after  school.  " 

6.  Pupils   may  be  detained  after  school  not  exceeding 

minutes. 

7.  There  must  be  no  fighting  on  the   school  grounds  or  near 

them. 

8.  Profane  and  vulgar  language  is  forbidden. 

9.  All  damage  to  school  property  must  be  paid  for.     All  wilful 

damage  must  be  paid  for,  and  a  fine  paid  in  addition. 

10.  Pupils  may  speak  quietly  to  other  pupils  when  necessary, 

but  there  must  be  no  whispering  or  note-writing. 

11.  Pupils  must  not  use  tobacco.      [A  diploma  of  graduation 

will  not  be  granted  to  any  user  of  tobacco  in  this  school.] 

12.  Politeness,  kindness,  and  common  sense  are  the  orders  of  the 

day  here. 


APPENDIX  VIII 

SUGGESTED   ENGLISH   EXERCISES   IN   CORRELATION 

WITH    OTHER    SUBJECTS    FOR   BOTH     URBAN 

AND    RURAL    SCHOOLS 

1.  Government.    Debate. — Resolved,  That  it  is  better  to  be  a 

policeman  than  a  fireman.  Also,  postman  versus  school 
principal.  Such  debates  may  precede  composition- 
writing  on  these  themes. 

2.  IndiLstry.     Debate. — Resolved,  That  a  carpenter  should  have 

the  same  wages  as  a  brick-mason.  Debate. — Resolved, 
That  the  farmer  has  a  happier  life  than  the  grocer. 

3.  History,  any  Grades.     Discuss  in  contrast  any  pairs  of  great 

men  and  women.  See  page  255,  above,  for  suggestions 
as  to  portfoHos  of  material, 

4.  Geography.     Debate. — Resolved,    That    India    is    a    better 

country  to  live  in  than  China.  Debate. — Resolved,  That 
the  United  States  should  annex  Canada. 

5.  Social  Life.     Debate. — Resolved,  That  the  doctor  is  a  more 

iiseful  citizen  than  any  other  kind  of  man.     Debate.— 

Resolved,  That  everybody  before  graduation  should  be 

taught  some  trade  at  school. 

There  are  many  ways  to  secure  the  interest  of  the  boy  and 

girl,  but  whether  in  High  School  or  in  Second  Grades  there  is 

no  better  way  than  daily  by  practical  themes  of  conversation 

and  of  composition  to  let  him  and  her  see  for  themselves  that 

school  is  a  part  of  real  life,  dealing  with  real  things  and  with 

real  persons. 

331 


INDEX 


Accrediting  schools,  n.  61. 

Administration,  defined,  147;  its 
value,  157;  its  measures,  159. 

Adolescence,  cross-heredity  at, 
>'  30,  108;  secondary,  30;  and 
handwriting,  225. 

Adults,  success  in  life,  15;  their 
place  in  the  child's  world,  29; 
find  it  difficult  to  understand 
children,  93;  obedient  to  prin- 
ciples, 112;  their  virtues  not 
to  be  anticipated  by  children, 
193;  dispositions  toward  life, 
285;  and  teachers,  297. 

Advance  lessons,  138. 

Ages,  psychical  and  physical 
compared,  31;  racial,  218,  et 
seq. 

Agriculture,  264,  et  seq. 

Algebra,  its  locus,  227. 

Altriciousness,  219-220. 

Analytic  method,  n.  52. 

Ancestry,  99;  as  a  force  in  the 
growing  Ufe,  107. 

Animals,  as  viewed  by  children, 
94. 

Apperception,defined,22;  masses, 
280. 

Application,  as  a  step  in  the  in- 
ductive lesson,  42;  the  deduc- 
tive, 44. 

Aristotle,  his  Politics  quoted,  n. 
89;  190;  195-196;  his  "golden 
mean"  illustrated,  170. 

Arithmetic,  illustrative  lessons, 
43,  312-313,  320;  as  an  hier- 
archy of  topics,  105;  its  practi- 
cal value  in  the  solvency  of  the 


individual,  111;  its  locus,  226- 
227;  in  first  grade,  229;  fileof 
papers  in,  251 ;  and  community 
prices,  256;  teachers'  examina- 
tion in,  321. 

Arrest  of  development,  cause  of 
evil,  251. 

Art,  its  nature,  26;  and  Nature, 
233. 

Artist,  and  devices,  35;  and 
money,  89. 

Ascham,  Rogers,  his  School- 
master quoted,  n.  81. 

Association,  the  third  step  in  the 
induction  recitation,  41. 

Association  of  ideas,  its  value,  22; 
from  known  to  unknown,  39; 
power  as  formula  to  acquire 
need,  55,  167. 

Attainments,  not  sole  factors  in 
grading,  209. 

Attention,  three  kinds  of,  238. 

Averages  of  marks,  203-204. 

Authority  of  the  teacher,  160. 

A3^res,  Leonard  P.,  his  Open  Air 
Schools  cited,  251. 

Bibliography  of  knowledge  re- 
quisite in  teaching,  comment, 
n.  100. 

Biology,  and  reviews,  81 ;  and  the 
child,  99;  key  to  physiology, 
106;  and  education,  233. 

Blackboards,  178,  239. 

Board  of  education,  134;  286- 
287. 

Bookish  schooling,  36;  teaching, 
78. 


333 


CLASS    TEACHING    AND    MANAGEMENT 


Bookishness,  not  characteristic  of 
elementary  teachers,  lOo. 

Bookkeeping,  275. 

Books,  their  true  use,  40;  directed 
study  of,  72;  of  reference,  252. 

Boys,  bad,  174.     See  Pupils  also. 

Breaking  the  colt,  168. 

Brotherhood  of  man,  an  idea  not 
yet  fully  understood,  8.- 

Brown,  Elmer  E.,  his  Making  of 
Our  Middle  Schools  quoted, 
143. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  his  For- 
est Hymn  quoted,  125. 

Calisthenics,  124. 

Carpentry,  as  a  psychological  ex- 
ercise, 11;  key  to  mechanic 
arts,  272. 

Categories  of  human  thought, 
106. 

Cause  and  effect  in  history,  105. 

Character,  how  attained,  22. 

Chemistry,  teachers'  examination 
in,  327. 

Child,  and  view  of  the  world,  93; 
as  reader  of  character,  139; 
opinion  of  teacher  by,  167. 
See  Pupils  also. 

Chronology  in  history,  105. 

Church  and  State,  111. 

Cicero,  his  De  Oratore  quoted,  39. 

Citizenship,  when  good,  114. 

City  school  system,  120,  199, 
269;  metropolitan,  260. 

City  versus  country,  86,  185,  274. 

Ci\'il  government,  teachers'  ex- 
amination in,  328. 

Civilization,  requires  the  school, 
65;  always  springs  from  ideas, 
116;  and  education,  256,  296; 
defined,  n.  263. 

Class,  what  di\ision  to  aim  to 
teach,  32;  in  district  school, 
130;  results  in,  vary  from  year 
to  year,  139;  control,  145; 
number  of  pupils  in,  200;  pub- 
lic, 217;  its  order,  238;  and 
teacher,  244. 


Classification,  199;  et  seq.;  in 
high  school,  202. 

Class-room,  its  ventilation,  248; 
its  equipment,  252. 

College  teaching,  81,  128.' 

Comenius,  his  Great  Didactic 
quoted,  151,  233. 

Commercial  high  schools,  200,  et 
seq. 

Common  school  as  a  benign  force 
according  to  Horace  Mann,  65. 

Compulsory  education,  the  disci- 
pline problem,  167;  dropping 
out  of  school  at  end  of  term  of, 
207. 

Concentration,  necessary  in  learn- 
ing, 21. 

Conscience,  of  children,  94;  of 
teacher,  97. 

Consciousness,  states  of,  made  by 
the  educator,  146. 

Consolidated  school,  82. 

Content  studies,  136.  See  Stud- 
ies also. 

Controversies  over  schools,  95. 

Cookery  as  a  science,  279. 

Corporal  punishment,  95;  as  a 
theorj'  of  discipline,  146;  for- 
bidden in  France,  146;  in  New 
York  Gty  and  in  New  Jersej^ 
157;  practised  in  German}^  146; 
rules  as  to  its  infliction,  163- 
164. 

Correlation  in  teaching,  76;  of 
historj^  and  geography,  106; 
in  language,  256. 

Country  versus  city,  85,  185,  274. 

Courage  as  a  virtue,  177,  193. 

Course  of  study,  classified  into 
studies  and  exercises,  6,  52; 
overcrowded,  42;  methods  of 
various  subjects,  79;  interpret- 
ed by  teacher,  93;  its  spiritual 
nature,  116;  schema,  206; 
values  of  various  subjects,  n. 
209;  its  simplification,  228;  j 
how  to  avoid  overcrowding,  I 
230;  in  Qncinnati,  305-311.  ' 

Cripples,  188. 


334 


INDEX 


Culture,  its  relative  importance 

in  the  university,  67;  homes  of, 

181. 
Culture  epochs  theory,  109;  and 

school  discipline,  192-195. 
Curiosity,  its  value,  91. 
Curriculum,  analyzed,  89-90.  See 

Course  of  Study. 

Daily  program,  in  the  district 
school,  84,  132-133;  how  made, 
122-124. 

Daily  worli,  and  marks,  88,  .203; 
and  record,  119;  teUs  the  story, 
137. 

Deductive  recitation,  43;  and  out- 
of-class  study,  71. 

Defective  and  deficient  pupils, 
180,  et  seq.;  n.  263. 

Democracy,  115, 190;  basis  of  pu- 
pil self-government  theory,  154. 

Demotion,  212;  time  for,  217-218. 
,  Department  organization,  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages, 
72,  et  seq. ;  in  grammar  grades, 
81,  88.     See  High  schools. 

Department  teaching,  in  high 
schools,  70;  time  of  students 
apportioned,  72. 

Device,  defined,  35,  255. 

Dialectic,  of  growth,  195;  of  his- 
tory, idealists  versus  material- 
ists, 116;  of  life,  according  to 
Jesus „ 170. 

Diary  of  school-teacher,  132. 

Discipline,  defined,  20;  four  theo- 
ries, 148;  practices,  154;  re- 
porting cases  of,  to  higher 
officers,  213. 

Disorder,  when  trivial,  180;  and 
transfer  of  pupil,  246. 

District  school,  difficulty  of  grad- 
ing, 76;  its  importance  in 
America,  82-83;  its  daily  work, 
130;  in  Maryland,  n.  200;  with 
several  teachers,  201;  and  ur- 
ban, compared,  287. 

Domestic  science  and  art,  278,  et 


seq. 


Drainage  and  population,  271. 

Dramatized  lesson,  17,  255-256. 
320. 

Drawing,  as  an  exercise,  10;  psy- 
chological in  its  nature,  53; 
special  teacher  for,  74 ;  by  class 
teacher,  240;  illustrative  les- 
son, 316-317. 

Drill,  its  uses,  12;  in  the  deduc- 
tive lesson,  44;  in  postchild- 
hood,  86;  in  logical  studies,  134. 

Duty,  of  pupil  to  study,  72;  the 
center  of  morality,  112. 

Ear-mindedness,  48,  189;  its 
training,  254. 

Educability,  its  limits,  108. 

Education,  as  an  art,  23;  its  pur- 
pose in  the  university,  28; 
against  resistance,  104;  a  moral 
issue,  108;  order  of,  its  nature, 
117;  the  teacher  promoter  of, 
137;  defined,  83,  145;  moral 
aims  of,  169;  a  relation  of  su- 
perior and  inferior,  211;  and 
Nature,  233;  motives  of,  280; 
as  an  opportunity,  285. 

Education  system,  286-287. 

Educational  precipice,  207;  n. 
223. 

Educational  process,  the,  its 
stages,  14,  22;  based  on  learn- 
ing, 20;  as  a  continuum,  73; 
as  socium,  73;  irreversibly  for- 
ward, 104;  not  regimentation, 
134;  and  age,  222;  and  de- 
velopment, 229;  requires  time, 
239,  257. 

Efficiency  as  an  educational 
ideal,  17. 

Eliot,  Charles  W.,  his  More 
Money  for  the  Public  Schools 
cited,  264. 

Energy,  surplus  nervous,  re- 
quisite to  education,  18. 

English,  illustrative  les.son,  314- 
315.     See  Good  Englisli. 

Entrance  examinations,  n.  61 ;  to 
liigh  school,  87. 


335 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


En\'ironment,  and  heredity,  98; 
the  struggle  with,  107;  its 
items,  108. 

Examinations,  place  in  school, 
58;  purpose,  59;  use,  63;  in 
elementary  schools,  tests  of 
teachers,  not  pupils,  63,  88; 
frequency,  86;  professional  li- 
censes, 215;  examples  of,  321- 
328. 

Exemplification  as  a  stage  in 
teaching  an  exercise,  54. 

Exercise,  when  understood,  9, 
n.  281 ;  as  a  test  of  real  knowl- 
edge, 10;  psychological,  53;  its 
method,  62;  illustrative  lessons, 
314-320. 

Exhibition  days,  132,  255,  n.  232. 

Expressive  activities,  n.  280. 

Eye-mindedness,  its  advantages, 
49. 

Eyesight,  its  defects,  183-184; 
and  lighting  of  school-room, 
249;  its  training,  254. 

Faculties  of  mind,  misunder- 
stood, 111. 

Fatigue,  its  limits,  57;  in  exami- 
nations, 60;  in  recitations,  122- 
123. 

Feeble-minded,  188;  tests,  189. 

Femininity,  of  teaching,  103. 

F6nelon,  his  Education  of  Girls 
quoted,  91. 

Fire-driU,  178. 

Five  fonnal  steps  of  recitation 
stated  and  delimited,  37;  ex- 
plained, 38. 

Food-supply  and  population,  271. 

Foreign  language  teaching,  63, 
71,  202. 

Foreigners  in  public  schools,  28- 
29;  and  learning  to  read,  79;  as 
advocates  of  backward  social 
movements,  110;  and  school 
discipline,  157;  segregation  of, 
at  school,  not  desirable,  201; 
and  ages,  219-220. 

Forms,  in  district  school,  132-133. 


France,  theory  and  practice  of 
discipline,  155. 

Freedom,  its  nature,  108;  of  the 
child  at  school,  176. 

Fresh  knowledge  essential,  78; 
commanded  by  teaching  office, 
100;  and  daily  preparation,  121 

Froebel,  his  Education  of  Man 
quoted,  opp.  copyright;  152; 
cited,  226;  his  Education  by 
Development  quoted,  257. 

Functioning,  as  a  test  of  pro- 
ficiency, 11;  as  part  of  process 
of  education.  111. 

Gardening,  key  to  agriculture, 
266,  et  seq. 

General  method,  of  the  recitation, 
34;  in  the  district  school,  85. 

Generalization,  in  the  inductive 
recitation,  41 ;  in  the  deductive, 
43. 

Genetic  process,  stated,  22;  util- 
ized by  the  teacher,  80. 

Genius,  109. 

Geography,  its  laws,  226;  illus- 
trative lesson,  315-316;  teach- 
ers' examination  in,  324. 

Geology,  128. 

Geometry,  its  locus,  226;  teach- 
ers' examination  in,  327. 

German,  teachers'  examination 
in,  325. 

Germany,  theory  and  practice  of 
discipline  in,  155. 

Girls,  care  of  health  of,  223. 

Golden  mean,  170. 

Good  English,  its  necessity  for 
the  teacher,  78,  96,  243. 

Government,  always  operated  by 
individuals,  190. 

Grade  programs,  124,  126. 

Grade  teaching,  why  necessary, 
74;  its  advantages,  76. 

Grading  pupils,  76;  in  the  dis- 
trict school,  83;  the  several 
factors,  205. 

Grammar,  illustrative  lesson,  313; 
teachers'  examination  in,  323. 


336 


INDEX 


Grammar    school    organization, 

73,  et  seq. 
Group  teaching,  230-231. 
Growth  and  education,  230. 

Habit,  of  learning,  20;  in  social 
life,  109. 

Habituation,  in  postchildhood, 
86. 

Hancock,  John,  cited,  227. 

Handwriting,  at  certain  ages,  86; 
itslocus,  225. 

Harris,  Ada  V.  S.,  her  expressive 
activities  cited,  n.  281. 

Harris,  William  T.,  cited,  n.  208. 

Health  and  age,  219. 

Hearing,  its  defects,  185. 

Hegel,  on  Nature,  n.  107;  his 
Philosophy  of  Right  cited,  161. 

Heredity,  and  education,  19-20; 
239;  and  ear-mindedness,  48; 
and  en\ironment,  98;  and 
handwriting,  225.  See  Adoles- 
cence. 

Heuristic  recitation,  45;  two  uses 
of,  n.  45. 

Hierarchical  organization  of 
school,  89;  of  studies  for  mark- 
ing purposes,  n.  209. 

High  school  teaching,  67;  de- 
partmental organization,  69; 
entrance  examinations,  87;  seg- 
regation of  sexes  in,  200; 
length  of  course,  n.  223. 

EUgh  schools,  for  mechanic  arts, 
201,  264;  for  commerce,  201, 
compared,  n.  202. 

History,  too  hard  for  small  chil- 
dren, 7;  varied  by  its  method, 
16;  inductive  lesson  plan,  40; 
revaews  in,  87;  and  differentia- 
tion of  the  social  institutions, 
111;  and  teaching  patriotism, 
114;  its  dialectic  of  progress, 
116;  and  pupil  self-govern- 
ment, 191;  locus  of,  224;  test, 
321. 

Home  and  school,  74;  as  seen  by 
pupil,  93;  in  theory  of  disci- 


pline, 149;  182;  and  retarda- 
tion, 210. 

Home-nursing,  279-280. 

Home-study,  the  problem,  50; 
amount  of,  71. 

Honor  as  an  ideal,  113. 

Human  nature,  how  to  read,  103; 
judging,  impartially,  214;  tem- 
perament and  age,  220-221. 

Hygiene  of  teacher's  life,  293. 

Hypocrisy,  in  school  work,  10; 
versus  genuine  acquirement, 
102;  in  times  of  peace,  110;  the 
worst  of  vices,  173. 

Idealism,  101;  its  power  in  edu- 
cation, 109^;  in  history  always 
finally  successful,  116;  in  prac- 
tice, 235;  of  the  teacher,  297. 

Ideas,  when  alive,  8;  when  func- 
tioning, 55;  constitute  differ- 
ences among  persons,  103. 

Imitation,  distinction  between 
exercise  and  study  in  respect 
to,  10. 

Impulse,  defined,  19. 

Incentives,  173. 

Incorrigible  pupils,  158,  244,  n. 
263. 

Indians,  altricious,  221. 

Individual,  the,  characteristics 
of,  98;  powers  of,  100;  oppor- 
tunities of,  108;  varieties  of, 
109;  to  be  cared  for  system- 
atically, 125;  attention  to,  in 
district  school,  131;  varying 
the  program  for,  230;  help  of, 
by  teacher,  247;  and  special 
teacher,  267. 

Inductive  recitation,  40;  de- 
veloped into  scientific  method, 
55;  and  out-of-class  study,  71. 

Industrial  arts, costly, 36;  schema, 
267;  pedagogy  of,  271,  et  seq. 

Industry,  why  the  mother  of 
talent,  109;  managers  of,  2G0. 

Informational  study,  defined,  38; 
its  recitation  method,  62;  how 
marked,  209. 


337 


CLASS  TEACHING  AND   MANAGEMENT 


Inhibition,  hard  for  motor  tem- 
peraments, 14;  necessary  for 
study,  49. 

Innutrition,  186. 

Insanity,  185. 

Institutions,  the  social,  109. 

Instruction,  defined,  146. 

Intelligence,  as  a  stage  in  edu- 
cation, 14;  grows  from  curios- 
ity, 91. 

Interest,  financial,  lesson  in,  312- 
313. 

Interest,  psychical,  defined,  19; 
of  teachers,  in  pupils,  73. 

Irrigation  and  population,  271. 

Janitor,  240. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  quoted,  190. 

Jesus,  quoted  as  to  kingdom  of 

heaven,  116;  and  morality,  171. 
Judgment,  when  good,    101;  in 

morals,  113;  of  human  beings, 

214. 

Kant,  Immanuel,  his  Pedagogy 

quoted,  23,  152. 
Ivindergarten,  a  transition  device 

between  school  and  home,  75; 

reduces    number   of    laggards, 

208;  and  age,  222;  according  to 

Froebel,  226. 
Kingdom  of  heaven,  116,  139. 
Knowledge,   to   date  important, 

78;    encyclopedic,    impossible, 

100;  a  philosophy  of,  needed  by 

teacher,  106. 
Known  to  unknown,  39;  gradual 

nature  of  process,  54;   Locke 

on, 197. 

Laboratory  method,  55,  62. 

Laggards,  77;  in  district  school, 
131;  often  due  to  incorrect 
marking  devices,  210;  and  de- 
motions, 218;  ages  in  grades, 
222. 

Laymen,  view  of  teacher  by,  236, 
et  seq. 

Learning,    defined,    5,    12;    its 


stages,  5,  12;  its  processes,  7; 

one  thing  at  a  time,  21. 
Lecture,     the,     as     a     teaching 

method,  56;  how  presented,  57; 

to  be  followed  by  examination, 

63. 
Lessons,  various  kinds  of,  35;  ad- 
vance assignments,  136. 
Library,  study  in  a,  58;  for  each 

class-room,  255. 
Life,  described,  108;  its  process, 

195-196;   preparation   for,   by 

education,  257. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  quoted,  190; 

and    agricultural    colleges,    n. 

264. 
Literacy,  48;  how  attained,  68. 
Locke,  John,  his  Conduct  of  the 

Human  Understanding  quoted, 

197. 
Locus  of  a  study,  9;  223,  et  seq. 
Logic,  inherent  in  certain  studies, 

18;  of  a  lecture,   56;  in  high 

school  subjects,  70. 
Logical   study,    defined,    38;   its 

recitation    method,     62;    and 

grading  the  district  school,  83; 

each  day  in  district  school,  131 ; 

how  marked, 209;  mathematics, 

227. 
Loyalty    as   an   ideal,    113;    the 

highest  virtue,  171. 
Luther,    Martin,    his    Letter    to 

Mayors  quoted,  166. 

Malnutrition,  187. 

Management,  defined,  146. 

Mann,  Horace,  his  Annual  Report, 
1848,  quoted,  65. 

Manual  training,  53;  special 
teacher  for,  74;  and  discipline, 
158;  key  to  mechanic  arts,  271. 

Marching  lines,  176. 

Marking  systems,  compared,  205. 

Marks,  tests  how  recorded  in,  63; 
for  daily  work,  88;  how  given 
in  cities,  202,  et  seq.;  passing, 
214. 

Married  women  as  teachers,  279. 


338 


INDEX 


Materialism,  101,  115;  in  history 
always  defeated,  116. 

Mathematics,  and  marking,  212; 
in  the  elementary  school,  227. 

Mechanic  arts,  in  higli  school, 
201;  schema  of,  272. 

Mechanism,  in  education,  90;  115; 
in  discipline,  180;  not  to  dis- 
place personally ,  211. 

Medical  inspection  of  schools,  183, 
et  seq.;  248,  et  seq. 

Medicine,  warning  of,  as  to 
panaceas,  37. 

Memorizing,  a  late  stage  in  study, 
51. 

Memory,  its  tricks,  49,  135;  its 
training,  254. 

Memory  gems,  86. 

Method,  illustrated,  16;  defined, 
17;  of  the  recitation,  37;  ana- 
lytic and  synthetic,  defined,  52; 
of  translation,  57;  to  be  dis- 
covered for  each  subject,  70; 
to  be  known  by  the  teacher,  78 ; 
of  Nature,  233. 

Mind  exhausts  body,  222. 

Mitchell,  his  Past  in  the  Present: 
What  Is  Civilization?  quoted,  n. 
263. 

Mixed  classes,  as  to  grades,  200, 
208;  as  to  sexes,  200. 

Modesty  of  opinion  in  youth,  91. 

MoraUty,  as  an  educational  idea, 
17;  as  a  process,  112;  and  duty, 
113;  as  a  school-aim,  143;  its 
qualities,  169;  prescriptive,  191; 
doctrinal  and  rational,  191; 
varies  with  age  and  sex,  194. 

Morning  exercises,  122;  in  district 
school,  132-133. 

Mother,  the,  in  child's  life,  74. 

Motivation,  source  of  all  educa- 
bility,  18;  its  two  modes  of 
manifestation,  19,  29. 

Movements  of  class,  177. 

Multiplication  tables,  33. 

Museum  in  schools,  82,  256. 

Music,  a  psychological  exercise, 
53;  special  teacher  for,  74. 


National  population,  265,  271. 

National  wealth,  265. 

Natural  science  teachers,  262. 

Nature,  defined,  107;  principles 
of,  according  to  Comenius,  232. 

Nature-study,  wlien  to  begin,  80; 
importance  of,  82;  and  the 
child,  85;  absurd  lessons,  124; 
museum,  252;  explained,  282. 

Negro,  discipline  of,  157;  segrega- 
tion, 201 ;  precocious,  220. 

Normal  scliool,  not  tlie  ending  of 
education,  78;  all-important  as 
stage  in  professional  prepara- 
tion, 79. 

Note-books  of  teachers,  122,  134. 

Obedience,  its  place  in  educa- 
tion, 22;  its  several  kinds,  112; 
compelled  by  the  rod,  151;  its 
best  qualities,  how  secured, 
167;  precedes  command,  195. 

Oklahoma,  and  agriculture,  271. 

Open  letters  to  teachers,  299-302. 

Opportunity,  and  the  individual, 
108;  of  teacher  in  the  district 
school,  134;  education  for,  275. 

Oral  recitations,  inexpensive,  37; 
and  ear-mindedness,  48. 

Organization,  school,  necessary  to 
good  discipline,  157. 

O'Shea,  M.  V.,  his  Dynamic  Fac- 
tors in  Education  cited,  281 . 

Overschooling,  136. 

Overstrain,  2i8. 

Panaceas  in  education,  37. 

Panic,  180. 

Parents,  182,  212;  as  teachers, 
279. 

Passing  mark,  214. 

Patience  in  teachers,  102,  167, 
244-245. 

Patriotism,  113;  and  office-hold- 
ing, 114. 

Patten,  Simon  N.,  his  New  Basi^ 
of  Civilization  cited,  n.  265. 

Peace,  a  blessing  or  a  curse,  110; 
law  of  the  school,  141. 


339 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND    MANAGEMENT 


Pedagogy,  as  guide  to  school 
organization,  88. 

Penmansliip.     See  Handwriting. 

Periodicities  in  human  life,  293. 

Perry,  A.  C,  his  Problems  of  the 
Elementary  School  cited,  201. 

Personality  versus  mechanism, 
211,213. 

Pestalozzi,  his  Letter  on  the  Work 
at  Hanz  quoted,  1,  153. 

Philosophy,  of  education,  213;  of 
life,  taught  by  the  teacher,  98; 
of  knowledge,  needed  by  the 
teacher,  106. 

Phonic  method  in  reading,  79; 
illustrative  lesson,  319-320. 

Physical  culture,  53,  63. 

Physical  geography,  teachers'  ex- 
amination, 326. 

Physics,  128;  apportioning  lesson 
in,  136;  teachers'  examination, 
326. 

Physiological  exercises,  53. 

Physiology,  and  the  child,  99; 
key  to  psychology,  106;  illus- 
trative lesson,  317-318. 

Plans  for  year,  month,  day,  135. 

Plato,  his  Georgias  quoted,  117; 
his  Laws  quoted,  151,  181. 

Politics,  and  school  discipline, 
161;  and  janitors,  240;  and 
supervisors,  270. 

Pratt  Institute,  its  early  leader- 
ship cited,  264. 

Precocity,  31,  218,  219-220,  222. 

Preparation,  as  a  step  in  the  in- 
ductive recitation,  39. 

Presentation,  as  a  step  in  the  in- 
ductive recitation,  40;  in  the 
deductive,  43;  in  the  labora- 
tory, experiment,  55,  62. 

Primary  school,  the,  subjects  of, 
80;  methods  of,  82;  teachers 
women,  and  why,  103;  fre- 
quency of  grading,  218;  course 
too  crowded,  229. 

Print,  advantages  of,  over  mem- 
ory, 49. 

Process,  defined,  36. 


Professional  certificates,  215. 

Professional  degrees,  why  diffi- 
cult to  secure,  28-29. 

Professional  education,  67. 

Professional  schools,  conducted 
by  specialists,  69. 

Professions,  the  learned,  25;  and 
incomes,  89;  numbers,  260;  de- 
pendent upon  teaching,  296. 

Program,  daily,  in  the  district 
school,  84;  daily,  graded,  123- 
126;  daily,  high  school,  127; 
general,  for  the  district,  132- 
133;  the  short  hour,  high  pres- 
sure day,  231. 

Progress,  in  course  of  study,  90; 
in  work  daily,  137;  of  pupils, 
229. 

Promotion,  in  graded  schools,  77; 
of  dull  and  frail  children,  211; 
qualities  to  be  considered  in, 
211;  principles  involved,  213, 
e<  .seg.;  semiannual,  216.  ^ 

P.sychological  exercises,  53. 

Psj'chological  tests  of  feeble- 
mindedness, 189. 

Psychologist,  the  teacher  as,  80. 

Psychology,  its  main  phases,  19; 
its  problems,  22;  defined  ancl 
illustrated,  99;  not  easy,  103; 
key  to  philosophy,  106;  facili- 
ties, not  faculties.  111;  of  indi- 
vidual according  to  Plato,  181; 
of  attention,  238-239. 

Psychophysical  parallelism,  11, 
52;  in  reading,  68. 

Ps3'chophysics,  its  problems,  19; 
basis  of  exercises,  52. 

Public  opinion  and  the  school,  97; 
as  to  teachers,  237;  of  the  class, 
244,  246. 

Public  school,  the  various  pupils 
of  the,  according  to  nationahty, 
27;pubHcityof,  217,  241. 

Punishment,  doctrine  of,  161, 
245. 

Pupils,  distinguished  as  to  abili- 
ties, 12;  laggards  and  dullards, 
77;  different  in  every  year,  79; 


340 


INDEX 


in  primary  grades,  80;  view  of 
the  world  by,  93;  to  be  cared 
for,  indi\adually,  125;  views  of 
control,  167;  to  be  studied  by 
teachers,  181;  defectives  and 
deficients,  180-189;  not  little 
men  and  women,  193;  marks, 
205-207;  pushed  forward,  208; 
promotions,  212;  relative  psy- 
chical ages  of,  219,  et  seq.; 
opinions  of,  respecting  good 
teachers,  247;  their  neatness, 
252;  transfer  of,  246. 

Pupil  self-government,  150. 

Purchasing  power  of  money  in 
various  parts  of  our  country, 
89. 

Quality,  of  temperament,  101; 
not  a  \irtue,  170;  possibly  a 
vice,  170. 

Question-and-answer  recitation, 
schema,  242.  See  also  Heuris- 
tic recitation. 

Questions  bv  pupils  in  recitation, 
32,  112;  "by  teachers,  46-47; 
opinion  of,  by  Fenelon,  91. 

Quintilian,  his  Institutes  of  Ora- 
tory quoted,  165. 

Race  and  age,  219,  et  seq. 

Rationality,  how  attained,  22; 
and  literacy,  68;  of  adults,  112; 
in  morals,  191. 

Reading,  for  general  meaning, 
51;  between  the  lines,  51;  psy- 
chological difficulties,  68; 
teaching  methods,  79;  illus- 
trative lesson,  318. 

Recess,  teachers  at,  124. 

Recitations,  various  kinds  of,  34; 
oral  inductive,  37,  et  seq.;  as 
observed  by  Aasitor,  241. 

Reform  schools,  158. 

Regeneration,  171. 

Regimentation,  not  education, 
1.34. 

Religion,  its  true  nature,  115. 

Report,  upon  pupils,  form,  204. 


Reproduction  of  thought  of  pas- 
sage, 51. 

Requirements  for  teaching,  289- 
291. 

Research,  the  increase  of,  259. 

Resignation,  "250;  n.  261. 

Retardation  and  marks,  210;  a 
misfortune,  210. 

Review  lesson,  method  of,  62; 
when  to  be  given,  87, ,136;  ask- 
ing questions,  242. 

Reviews,  by  lectures,  56;  by  tests 
and  examinations,  61;  in  col- 
lege teaching,  81;  frequency, 
86. 

Right,  its  complexity,  171. 

Ripley,  William  Z.,  his  Races  of 
Europe  referred  to,  80. 

Routine,  tendency  to,  in  graded 
school,  r 77;  to  be  mechanized, 
in  a  measure,  180. 

Rule,  teaching  the,  44. 

Rules  and  regulations,  329-330. 

Rural  schools,  83.  See  also  Dis- 
trict school. 

Saint  Augustine,  his  Words  of 
the  Apostles  quoted,  196. 

Saint  Paul  quoted,  172. 

Saint  Peter,  his  Second  Epistle 
quoted,  196,  297. 

Salaries  and  cultural  values,  89; 
and  public  duty,  114;  in  In- 
diana, 200;  and  good  teachers, 
216;  standard  of,  261. 

Schema  of  lessons,  exercises,  and 
recitations,  62. 

School,  defined  by  Froebel,  opp. 
copyright;  a  force  in  civiliza- 
tion, according  to  Mann,  65; 
and  public  controversies,  95; 
and  State,  111;  in  the  South, 
217;  several  kinds  of,  295. 

School  city,  191. 

School  committee,  134. 

School  congestion,  207. 

School  elections,  special,  n.  200. 

School  newspaper,  255. 

School  sanitation,  248,  et  seq. 


341 


CLASS   TEACHING   AND   MANAGEMENT 


School  visitors,  134. 

School-boy  honor,  113. 

School-house,  ISO,  240. 

Schooling,  defined,  4;  cause  of 
its  bookishness,  36. 

Science,  in  elementary  schools, 
82;  in  high  schools,  127. 

Scientific  method,  55. 

Seating  a  class,  174. 

Secret  societies,  115. 

Self-activity  of  pupils,  256. 

Self-estrangement  in  discipline, 
160. 

Self-realization,  as  an  educa- 
tional ideal,  21. 

Seminar,  method  of,  56;  member- 
ship of,  57. 

Senses,  number  of,  n.  238;  train- 
ing of  special,  254. 

Sewing,  key  to  domestic  arts,  279. 

Sex,  and  moralitv,  194;  segrega- 
tion of,  200;  and  age,  221. 

Social  education  at  school,  93. 

Social  indoctrination,  as  a  part  of 
education,  27;  192. 

Social  institutions,  enumerated, 
109.  Social  movements,  108- 
110. 

Society,  the  complexity  of,  109, 
228." 

Sociology,  defined  and  illustrated, 
99. 

Socrates,  as  teacher,  45;  quoted, 
152. 

Specialist,  as  university  teacher, 
69;  as  high  school  teacher,  70, 
128;  as  elementary  school 
teacher,  74;  the  several  kinds 
of,  267;  difficult  to  secure,  274. 

Speech,  its  place  in  human  life, 
68. 

Spelling,  of  the  teacher,  78; 
method  of  teaching,  256. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  his  Education 
quoted,  283. 

Spinal  curvature,  185. 

Story-telling  by  teachers,  122, 280. 

Studies,  informational  and  logi- 
cal, 38;  loci  of,  223-225. 


Study,  meaningless  until  method 
is  known,  16;  under  direction, 
36;  lesson   method,   47;   peda- 
gogy, 49;  principles  stated,  51 
what  subjects  require  most,  51 
of  a  passage  for  translation,  57 
method,    62;    amount    of,    71 
time  to   be   devoted   to,   231 
illustrative   Englisli   lesson   of, 
314-315. 

Subject,  nature  of,  defined,  67. 

Supervision  and  district  school, 
134. 

Supervisor,  and  teacher,  95; 
should  study  children,  107; 
visits  of,  235,  et  seq. 

Sympathv,  requisite  in  the 
teacher,  102. 

Synthetic  method,  52. 

Taxes  and  schools,  37. 

Teacher,  avoids  setting  oneself 
as  model  for  lifework  of  pupil, 
20;  standards  of  proficiency, 
in  elementary  school  subjects, 
78;  in  the  district  .school,  84; 
as  disciplinarian,  88;  salary  of, 
89;  as  interpreter,  93,  104;  as 
seen  by  child,  94,  111;  manners 
of,  9.5;  and  supervisor,  95; 
usual  temperament,  101 ;  gen- 
eral qualities,  102;  as  reader  of 
literature  and  student  of  art 
106;  extremes  of  duties,  119 
limits  of  brilliant,  129;  of  dull 
129;  mood  at  school,  138 
judging  the,  235;  attire,  240 
technical  skill,  243;  voice,  244 
member,  260;  qualifications  re- 
quired, 261;  relieved  by  spe- 
cialists, 270;  life  of  the,  285, 
et  seq.;  open  letters  to,  299- 
302. 

Teaching,  test  of  skill  in,  0;  the 
two  purposes  of,  25;  as  an  art 
discussed,  26;  too  little  or  too 
much,  31;  stages  of,  33;  bad, 
irremediable  in  an  exercise,  54; 
four  kinds  of,  69;  and  good 


342 


INDEX 


school  equipment,  120;  a  privi- 
lege, 139. 

Technical  sciences,  costly,  36. 

Teeth,  187. 

Telling  is  not  teaching,  33. 

Temperaments,  distinguished,  13; 
varied  success  in  education,  14; 
in  life,  15;  acquiring  qualities 
not  congenital,  20;  attitudes  of 
children  of  various,  toward 
adults,  30;  difference  at  same 
ages,  31;  and  study,  50;  and 
response  to  ideas,  81 ;  according 
to  Ascham,  81;  and  philosophy 
of  life,  98;  of  teachers,  101;  de- 
scribed as  reactions,  108;  and 
theories  of  discipline,  156;  bad- 
ness at  school,  174;  and  ages, 
220-221;  and  education,  228; 
and  mechanic  arts,  274. 

Temperature  and  humidity,  250. 

Tenure  of  office,  158;  in  New 
Jersey,  n.  200;  287. 

Terminology  in  education,  145. 

Tests,  place  of,  in  school,  58;  pur- 
pose of,  59;  use  in  studies,  63; 
frequency  of,  86;  by  higher 
officers,  215;  examples  of ,  312, 
et  seq. 

Text-book,  true  to  logic  and  na- 
ture of  its  subject,  18;  nature 
of,  defined,  36;  48;  publishers, 
303. 

Thwing,  Charles  F.,  his  History 
of  Higher  Education  in  Amer- 
ica quoted,  296. 

Titchener,  Edward  B.,  his  Out- 
lines of  Psychology  cited,  n. 
238. 

Toilet,  visiting  the,  177;  proper 
conveniences,  250. 


Tolstoi,  his  What  Is  Art?  cited,  56. 
Topical  recitation,  32. 
Tradition,    its   force   in   modern 

life,  109. 
Translation,  method  of,  57. 
Truth  as  school  aim,  143. 

Union  school,  82. 

Unity,  of  character,  170;  of  mind, 
111. 

Universal  school,  the,  201,  280. 

University,  policy  as  to  degrees, 
28,  29;  as  to  examinations,  61; 
teaching  methods  of  the,  69, 
81;  studies  at,  80;  extension, 
259;  metropolitan,  size  of,  260. 

Vacation  of  the  teacher,  295. 

Vice,  the  nature  of,  170. 

Virtue,  of  each  temperament, 
101;  not  to  be  assumed,  110; 
every-day.  143;  a  golden  mean, 
170;  nature  is  endeavor,  172; 
none  all  good,  190;  at  school, 
194;  growth  according  to  Saint 
Peter,  196,  298;  of  class,  238. 

Visitor  at  school,  241. 

Visualization  exercises,  254. 

War,  as  blessing  or  curse,  110. 
Wardrobe  at  school,  241. 
Weber,  his  History  of  Philosophy 

cited  on  Hegel,  n.  107. 
Whispering,  189,  n.  238. 
Wisdom,  the  principal  thing,  116. 
Worry,  294. 
Written  work  at  school,  86;  131; 

as  seen  by  visitor,  251. 

YoxTTH,  appreciation  of  teacher 
by  high  school,  96.     See  Pupils. 


THE  END 


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